For the Love of a Child
by StaindRedGlass
Summary: STORY 15: With Chioke kidnapped, Tony will stop at nothing to get his adopted son back. When Tony and Gibbs also get trapped behind enemy lines, the only person who can save them all is Ziva. In doing so, Ziva sacrifices her darkest secret being revealed.
1. Chapter 1

Here's the 15th story in my series. If you haven't read the other stories, then I advise you to not proceed until you do. This is a series. It runs in sequence. To understand certain things (especially where Jamie came from), it's best to just start at the beginning. This series is kind of like my very own NCIS season 4. As of this point, the series consists of: story 1 A Link to the Past (comes in 3 parts)… story 2 Wrong Place, Wrong Time… story 3 Second Job… story 4 Daughters… story 5 A Personal Vendetta… story 6 Bless the Children… story 7 Eyes of the Condemned… story 8 Disturbing Affection… story 9 No Man Left Behind (story that introduces Chioke; aka Kid)… story 10 Finger Swap… story 11 Imperfect Heist… story 12 The Color of Skin… story 13 Death to the Jedi… story 14 Brotherly Love… story 15 For the Love of a Child (current story). Hope you enjoy it.

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**Author's Note:** In the following story, Ziva's secret is finally revealed. I introduced the secret in story 13, Death to the Jedi, never gave much information on it… I left it general to leave you with more questions than answers. Story 14, Brotherly Love, built upon that introduction to Ziva's secret by showing Gibbs' suspicions have grown. At the end of the last story (story 14), Chioke was kidnapped and I left it as "To be continued" due to the major cliffhanger. So this story is a continuation of Ziva's secret and the kidnapping.

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**Wednesday**

**Chapter 1**

It's been almost five full days since Chioke being kidnapped late Friday afternoon. Tony has been worried ever since he received the news from his wife Jamie. The team has been investigating the abduction with the help of the FBI. Thus far, there have been very few leads. The only real, solid lead has led to the arrest of the owner to the black van used in the abduction; the van the owner reported as being stolen. The owner of the van is being held on the account of there being holes in his story which makes him a possible suspect.

The owner of the black van is sitting in Interrogation Two, waiting to be questioned again. The owner of the van has continued the same story about the vehicle being stolen. Gibbs, Fornell and Tony are in the observation room watching the man.

"It's been almost an hour." Tony said. "I can't take this anymore! Go in there and break this piece of shit!"

"No…" Gibbs said.

"The more time we waste means the chance of me getting Chioke back become less and less!" Tony exclaimed. "I can't loose him, Gibbs. He depends on me! I can't let him down when he needs me most! I have to get him back. I love the kid."

"I know, DiNozzo."

"So when are you going back in there to break this scumbag?!"

"I'm not doing it again, DiNozzo. You are." Gibbs motions for Tony to leave in order to go into the interrogation room.

Tony leaves observation. Fornell looks at Gibbs.

"For some odd reason I don't think this is a smart idea, Jethro."

"There's no better interrogation tool than that of a father's loves for his child. Tony is more than capable of getting a location."

"You planned on allowing DiNozzo to do the interrogation this entire time."

"Nah… What makes you think that?"

"You told the technician to leave as soon as we came into the room." Fornell stated. "DiNozzo is in fragile state right now. Most likely he'll attack the man. So what makes you think I won't report that excessive force was used?"

"The man tripped and fell down the stairs while in our custody. It's not our fault he's clumsy."

"I can't and won't report what I don't see, Jethro." Fornell smirks as he turns around and faces the opposite direction of the one-way mirror.

As Jamie enters into the observation room, Tony enters into the interrogation room. He remains calm for the moment as he walks to the table and grabs the chair on the opposite side of the suspect. Tony drags the chair across the room, away from the table. There's a loud screech as the chair legs slide across the floor.

"I'll give you one chance to tell me where Chioke is." Tony stated. "And I would advise you to stop screwing around."

"I told you. My van was stolen. I even reported it as such." The man said as Tony goes to sit down. Tony stops and walks toward the man. "You people found my van, but you accuse me of having something to do with…"

"Wrong answer, shit for brains."

Tony quickly places his hand behind the man's head and shoves him to the table. The man's face hits the table.

"Ow!" The man cried in pain as he holds the side of his face.

"I gave you a chance." Tony grabs the man and forces him to stand. He punches the man in the stomach. Tony slams the man against the wall. "Where's my son!!!"

"I don't know."

Jamie enters into the interrogation room.

"Tony…" Jamie tries to get his attention. "This is no way to get the Intel you want. Let him go." She demanded. Tony lets go of the man.

"Yeah… You should listen to…" The man begins to say. Jamie approaches and slams her hand into the man's crotch. She grabs hold and squeezes as tightly as she possibly can. "Ow!!!" The man cried in pain. He places his hands on Jamie in order to push her away. Tony grabs the man's hands and pins his arms against the wall. Jamie squeezes the man's crotch even harder.

"I'm not letting go until you give me a location." Jamie threatened. She now twists her hand.

"Ow!" The man cried once again. "I think he's on a ship."

"What ship?!" Tony demanded an answer. "Or I can have my wife make sure you're never sexually active ever again due to a crippled…"

"The ship's name I overheard them mention is; Kron-Printzen."

Inside the observation room, Fornell's ears perk up as he recognizes the name of the ship. Gibbs realizes the ship name is familiar to Fornell as he reads his body language.

"How do you know the ship, Tobias?"

"The Kron-Printzen is highly suspected of being associated with slave trading. Kron-Printzen is actually the name of a Danish slave ship which sank in 1706 with eight hundred and twenty slaves on board." Fornell pauses. Gibbs continues to read his body language.

"Tobias…"

"If Chioke is on the Kron-Printzen, than that means he's…" Fornell pauses again. "The ship would be in North Korean water as it's just off the coast from land. It's suspected they keep the slaves on the ship until they bring them to the trading camp. Once they leave the trading camp, it's unclear how the slaves are transported to their destinations upon purchase. But when Chioke leaves the trading camp, he'll be gone forever."

Gibbs immediately looks to the one-way mirror. He looks at Tony and worries about how he'll react to this news.

While still inside the interrogation room, Tony forces the man to sit back down.

"I swear I didn't know they were going to kidnap your child. I thought they just wanted to use my van to bring some merchandise to a ship." The man pleaded. "They gave me seven hundred dollars to report the van stolen and stick with the story."

"Guess what genius… You still aided in the kidnapping of a child. You're going to be charged with accessory to kidnapping and interfering with an ongoing federal investigation." Tony and Jamie both walk to the door. "You better find yourself a good lawyer."

They leave the room and the door shuts behind them. Tony and Jamie now enter into the observation room.

"Both of you sit down." Gibbs said.

They sit. Gibbs and Fornell start telling them what is known as of this point. As Tony and Jamie remain seated and listening to what's said, they both begin to worry. Jamie places her hand into Tony's hand and grips him tightly. Jamie knows it's not her fault, but feels responsible for not being able to stop it from happening and not being able to do anything about it. So she feels helpless. For Tony, he's never missed anyone as much as he's missing Chioke right now. He's also never been so afraid in his life; not for his own life, but for the life of his adopted son who he loves so much. At this point, Tony's heartbeat becomes more rapid and he feels like he's going to faint.


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2**

The team, along with Fornell, is in the bullpen. Gibbs and Tony are grabbing their gear. With the news of what will eventually happen to Chioke, Tony made a decision. Tony and Gibbs are going to go to North Korea to rescue Chioke. Fornell is near Gibbs' desk in order to speak with him.

"There's nothing I can say to get you to reconsider going to North Korea." Fornell said. "Look… Hold off on going for a couple hours. We have an informant in the country. He'll be your guide and keep both of you under the radar. Whatever equipment you need… He'll get it. With his help, he'll smuggle you in and out of the country."

"Set that up, Fornell." Gibbs said.

"I know how much Chioke means to DiNozzo." Fornell acknowledged. "Just make sure all three of you get out safely."

"If I didn't know any better… I'd say you actually like having me around, Fornell."

"You're like a thorn in my side, Gibbs." Fornell walks away. "But I'm going to help you either way."

Tony and Jamie are over by his desk talking. Tony is gathering his gear.

"Tony…" Jamie tries to get his attention. "Tony… Look at me." He finally looks at her. Jamie looks him in the eyes. "You do whatever you have to do to bring Chioke back. I don't care what you have to do or who you have to kill… You do it." Tony places his hands on Jamie's cheeks as he sees a tear fall from her eye. He uses his thumbs to wipe the tear away. "It's because of the poor vision of my left eye that I didn't see the van. It's my fault. I should've protected him."

"Don't say that. It's not your fault, Jamie." Tony assures her. "It's not your fault." He smiles, leans forward and gives her a quick kiss to show he doesn't blame her.

"Do me…" Jamie begins to say.

"Right now?! I didn't realize you were so kinky as to want an audience." Tony joked. Jamie jabs him in the stomach. "Ow…"

"You didn't let me finish." Jamie said. "Do me a favor and look after my dad."

"I promise." Tony stated sincerely. "Besides… The old man needs…" Tony begins to say. Jamie jabs him in the stomach again. "Ow..."

"You're pushing it."

"I wouldn't be DiNozzo if I didn't." Tony said. He leans forward and wraps his arms around his wife. "I'll bring Chioke back and look after the old… Ow…"

"I love you, Tony."

"I love you too, Jamie."

"DiNozzo…" Gibbs tries to get his attention.

"Hands off the daughter… I know." Tony said as he backs away from Jamie. Gibbs makes a head motion for him to step away so he can have private time with his daughter in order to say goodbye. Tony walks away.

Tony is standing by the window. Gibbs and Jamie are alone in the bullpen as Ziva and McGee also step out and stand near the window.

"Take care of yourself, Dad. Please be careful and don't take any unnecessary risks."

"And come back alive." Gibbs added. "Don't worry."

Jamie moves forward and wraps her arms around her father's neck. Gibbs hugs her back. After a minute of holding her father tightly, Jamie backs away a little bit. With her left arm still slightly around her father's neck, she leans her head downward; expecting a kiss. Gibbs kisses Jamie on the forehead.

"While you're over there, keep my husband safe." Jamie said. "Look after him and bring him and Chioke back to me. Promise me that."

"I thought he's supposed to look after me since I'm the old man who…" Gibbs begins to say. Jamie jabs him in the stomach. "Ow…"

"You guys need to stop mocking me." Jamie giggled.

"I promise to look after Tony and to bring him and Chioke back safely." Gibbs said as he leans forward and kisses her on the forehead again. Together, they walk to the window where the others are standing.

Once again, Jamie wraps her arms around her husband. Gibbs stands with the others.

"I'll have the satellite phone with me." Gibbs said to McGee. "I need you to get as much satellite time over North Korea as you possibly can. Thermo-imagining… The works."

"Got it, Boss." McGee acknowledged his role.

"I would be a valuable asset for this mission, Gibbs. And you know I'm right." Ziva stated. "Let me come."

"No, Ziva. We can handle this." Gibbs said when in his mind he just doesn't trust her as the whole Amir interrogation is still fresh in his mind.

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Meanwhile, on the other side of the world the Kron-Printzen is anchored off the coast of Wonsan, North Korea. Inside the ship, in a dimly lit, large cargo room, Chioke and a couple other people are sitting along the walls. In total, there are eight people in the room; including Chioke. The people are dirty, malnourished and very hungry.

Chioke is sitting in the far corner. He sits in the corner thinking about Tony. Chioke wipes a tear from his eye as he's unsure what's going on. He remains seated in the corner, cold and shivering. Chioke is scared and wants to go back home. He sits there wondering if Tony loves him enough to come save him. After a minute, the thoughts of abandonment begin to seep into his mind.

Suddenly, the door to the room opens. The people in the room all move to the back as they're frightened. The man at the door tosses some half-eaten food and scraps onto the floor. As soon as the man closes the door, everyone in the room hurries to the middle to grab the food.

As Chioke reaches for a piece of bread, he's quickly pushed to the side. Chioke falls to the floor. He stands up slowly and turns to the middle. There's no more food in the middle of the floor. The seven other people are all at the sides of the wall eating what food they were able to grab.

Chioke approaches two of the people. He points to the food then holds his hands out in order for them to share. Both of them turn their backs to Chioke and continue eating their food. He walks away. Chioke is too scared to go near the person who pushed him away, so he approaches another person on the other side of the room. Chioke points to the food then holds his hands out. The person shoves Chioke hands to the side. The person continues eating.

Chioke walks to the far corner of the room. He sits down. As tears begin to fall from his eyes, he turns to face the corner so no one can see him cry. After a couple seconds, he feels a tapping on his shoulder. Chioke lifts his head and wipes the tears away. He turns around to see a woman sitting next to him. The woman raises her arm to invite him in. With her other hand, she offers Chioke a half-eaten chicken leg. Chioke moves in closer and takes the chicken leg from the woman's hand. He starts gobbling the chicken leg down as he's so hungry. The woman guides Chioke into her lap. As Chioke continues eating, the woman wraps her arms around him in order to keep him warm.

After finishing the chicken leg, the woman hands Chioke a half-eaten potato. He takes the potato and begins eating it. The woman gave all of her food to Chioke.


	3. Chapter 3

**Thursday**

**Chapter 3**

On the other side of the world, Tony and Gibbs arrive at the airport in Seoul, South Korea at 17:45 in the evening. From Washington, D.C. they were able to make the, Wednesday, nonstop 13:30 Delta flight to Seoul.

Once at the Seoul, South Korea airport, they're met in the terminal by the FBI informant.

"You must be Anthony DiNozzo and Jethro Gibbs." The man greeted them. "For security purposes, my name is Cal."

"We need to hurry…" Tony begins to say.

"Let's walk and talk. We have a long drive ahead of us." Cal stated.

Once in the parking lot, they get into the van. Cal drives while Tony and Gibbs are in the back. The vehicle moves and eventually gets on the long road across the country. Seoul is on the side of South Korea that faces China. They needed to be on the other side of South Korea. A boat is waiting for them at Chodo-ri, South Korea; a small town along the Sea of Japan.

"We have almost a two hundred mile drive." Cal stated. "You might as well get some rest."

"I don't think I can." Tony said.

"They haven't moved Chioke to the trading camp yet. I've been gathering information about the slave trading. The best time to get your son back is upon leaving the trading camp. Upon purchase, the slaves are shipped through China in order to reach to their destinations. The Chinese government may deny any involvement with slave trading, but they receive a cut of the profit by allowing the transportation of slaves through the country. It wouldn't surprise me if some the slaves end up in Chinese sweat shops."

"If the Chinese government makes money off the slave trade business, once we have Chioke, how do you plan on getting us out?" Gibbs asked.

"We'll need to cross the boarder into South Korea. Once we enter South Korea, we'll be out of harms way. I know a route which isn't heavily guarded on the North Korean side. That will be our escape route."

"I don't care how we do it, just as long as I get my son back." Tony stated.

"I took the liberty of purchasing some equipment you might need for this mission. It's waiting on the boat." Cal said. "If there's anything else you need, my contact will get it for you."

"So you know… We have the money you requested for your service." Gibbs said.

"Who taught you English, Cal?" Tony wondered.

"I know it may be somewhat tough to understand my English due to my Korean accent…"

"What are you talking about? I can understand you just fine. Your teacher taught you well." Tony stated.

"I was born in North Korea. My mother brought me to America when I was young. While in America I learned English."

After almost three hours, they reach Chodo-ri where the boat is. Cal parks the van near the docks. Tony and Gibbs grab the gear they came in with. They all exit from the van. The three of them walk unto the dock and to the boat. They step onto the boat. Cal guides them down below. Once inside, Cal shows them the equipment he purchased. Gibbs carefully examines the equipment.

The equipment consists of: three assault rifles, one sniper rifle, three sidearm handguns, three pairs of night vision goggles and binoculars, six knives (three large blades and three small blades), extra ammunition, three pairs of camouflage uniforms, a couple flash-bang grenades and regular grenades plus some other, smaller equipment.

Gibbs grabs the sniper rifle. He holds it and points it to the side; away from the others. Gibbs looks through the scope.

"Very nice." Gibbs said as he puts the sniper rifle down. "We don't need anything else."

"Hopefully we won't have to use the majority of this equipment, but just in case, we do have it." Cal stated. He walks to the stairway to get out of the inside of the boat. "Igor… Get us moving!" He walks back to where Gibbs and Tony are. The boat begins moving away from the dock. "Like my name isn't really Cal, his name really isn't Igor. It's for out security and protection. I hope you understand."

"We understand, Cal." Gibbs said. "We know you're not supposed to be doing this and that you need to protect your identity. We also appreciate the risk you're taking to help us."

"This boat has a hidden compartment. Help me place the equipment inside because the North Korean coastal patrol is very cautious. They stop boats at random or if they suspect anything as being suspicious."

"If they board this boat…" Tony begins to say.

"The hidden compartment is big enough for the equipment and both of you." Cal stated. "But if they catch you… Most likely you'll be executed."

"That's reassuring." Tony chuckled. "But nothing is going to stop me from getting my son back…. Even if I have to go through hell to find him."

"Chioke must mean a lot to you." Cal acknowledged the Tony's worried, yet caring tone of voice.

"More than you'll ever know." Tony responded.

As the boat is making its way up the Korean coastline, the Kron-Printzen remains in the water off the coast of Wonsan, North Korea. The slaves have yet to be moved to the trading camp.

The door to the storage room, where the slaves are being held, opens. The slaves move toward the back as three men enter inside. Two other guards stay near the door. The men approach the corner where Chioke is being held by the woman who shared her food with him. One of the men grabs Chioke. The woman tries to prevent them from taking him, but she's hit with a club and falls down. Chioke struggles to get away but is unable to break free. The men walk to the door with Chioke who continues to struggle. The door closes.

The men bring Chioke to a room that's a small kitchen area. They place him down and begin talking in the Korean language as they pick at Chioke's arms. The men are examining him and talking about how an unhealthy child is useless to them; that he needs food. Chioke stands there unsure of what's going on or if they're going to hurt him.

One of the men lifts Chioke and sits him on the chair at the table. Another man places a plate of food in front of him. The plate has a massive amount of food on it. Chioke is starving, but he's unsure if the food is for him. He looks up at the man with innocent eyes. The man smacks Chioke on the head and yells at him in the Korean language. Chioke tries to hold his tears in as the smack hurt. The man points to the food. He pushes Chioke's head downward a bit; toward the food. Chioke uses his hands and slowly grabs some food. He begins eating.

With Chioke eating, the two men walk away and stand near the door. The men are talking amongst themselves and not paying attention to what Chioke is doing because there's no escape from the room. Chioke continues eating. As the guards aren't looking, Chioke stuffs as much food into his pockets as he possibly can; without being too much which would look suspicious as if something actually is in his pockets.

After almost thirty minutes, the men motion for Chioke to come to them. Chioke stands and walks to the men. He doesn't fight them and obeys what they want, even though he doesn't understand what they say. One of the men places his hand on Chioke shoulder. The men guide Chioke back to the storage room with the other slaves.

Chioke enters into the storage room. The door shuts behind him. Chioke walks toward the back of the room; to the woman. He sits with the woman. Chioke takes some food out of his pockets and gives it to her. The woman begins eating what Chioke has shared with her. The other slaves in the room see this and begin licking their lips as they're starving. The other slaves want some food too.

Even though the other slaves don't deserve any of the food due to pushing him away when he was hungry, Chioke stands up and walks to the others. Chioke reaches into his pockets. He gives the others the rest of the food. The slaves are grateful for Chioke's kindness.


	4. Chapter 4

**CHAPTER WARNING: **The last part of the following chapter contains something that may or will probably anger some. Just so you know… I am completely against what I wrote happen toward the end and that's why I didn't make it as harsh as I could have.

**Friday**

**Chapter 4**

Just after dawn, the boat smuggling Tony and Gibbs into North Korea enters into the vicinity of the Kron-Printzen. The boat continues moving northward passed the ship. Tony and Gibbs each grab a pair of binoculars. From the stairs to get onto the deck, Tony and Gibbs look at the Kron-Printzen. They see armed Korean soldiers on the ship. Cal is up on the deck, sitting on a chair near the stairs to get inside of the boat. He points to a section of the ship.

"Do you see the man in the red hat?" Cal asked. "Since he's on the ship that means the slaves haven't been moved yet. He personally transports them to the trading camp."

There's a moment of silence as Tony and Gibbs continue looking at the ship.

"I'll save you if it's the last thing I do, Chioke. I won't rest until you're safe. I promise to save you." Tony said softly to himself as he lowers the binoculars. "Your name means; God's gift. You truly are that." He continues talking softly to himself as he wipes a single tear from his eye. "You came into my life unexpectedly. And I couldn't be happier. My life isn't complete without you in it."

"You should tell him that, Tony." Gibbs said in a caring tone of voice as he places his hand on Tony's shoulder. "When we get him back, you tell him exactly what you said just now."

The boat continues moving further and further away from the Kron-Printzen. For Tony, sadness set in with every little inch he moves further away from where Chioke is. He wants more than anything to rescue Chioke at this very moment, but it breaks his heart that he knows it can't happen just yet.

Inside the Kron-Printzen, while all of the other captives are sleeping, Chioke is awake. He's been awake for quite some time. He lies tucked in the woman's arms because it's cold in the storage room. The thoughts of Tony race through his mind. Chioke thinks about all of those times when Tony was there for him and how much he felt loved. He wipes the tears from his eyes. Chioke wishes and hopes Tony will save him. He tries to be optimistic about the current situation. But sadly, Chioke feels he believes in something that will never happen. As he wipes a couple more tears from his eyes, he tries to not think of Tony.

Abandonment quickly takes over Chioke's mind. He feels cheated. His heart breaks. Hate for Tony seeps in. Chioke pounds his little fist on the floor as he feels Tony may not have loved him as much as what he originally thought; especially since he hasn't been rescued. He tries to be tough, but the overwhelming urge to cry takes over his emotions. The tears trickle down his face. He begins to wish he never met Tony as his little heart remains hurting. He feels alone and unloved. Chioke finally comes to the conclusion that he has no family, which makes him cry even more.

An hour later, the boat smuggling Tony and Gibbs into the country is now docked at a small village to the north of the where Kron-Printzen is anchored off the coast. Cal and Igor move all of the equipment to the van. Tony and Gibbs remain on the boat until everything is packed in the van.

After a couple minutes, Cal enters inside of the boat.

"It's time to go." Cal stated as he motions for Tony and Gibbs. They cautiously follow him to the van.

The three men enter into the van. Cal is in the driver's seat. Tony and Gibbs are in the back lying down in order to keep out of sight. Igor is standing next to the driver's side.

"Be careful, my friend." Igor said.

"Thank you for your help." Cal said. He takes out some money and gives it to Igor as payment for transporting them into the country. "Take care of yourself."

"Good luck."

Cal puts the key into the ignition. The engine starts. He presses his foot on the accelerator pedal. The van is now in motion. Igor goes back to the boat. The van drives away.

Back on the Kron-Printzen, the door to the storage room swings open. A couple men enter into the room. They're carrying shackles. A couple guards stand watch as the other places the shackles onto the captives. The captives will now be transported to the trading camp where they'll be purchased from and ship out to new their new owners.

The slaves are escorted off the ship. As they walk through the area of the town from the ship to the transport truck, the surrounding people watch. The majority of them turn their heads to look away. Some of the people don't really care, just as long as it's not happening to them or their family. But most of the people feel sorry for the slaves. Though, they know they can't do anything about it.

Hours later, the transport truck enters into the trading camp. Tony, Gibbs and Cal are watching from a hill in the distance. Tony is watching through his binoculars as he sees Chioke step off the truck wearing shackles. He watches as one of the guards grabs Chioke. The expression on Chioke's face is that the man is hurting him. Without thinking, Tony tries to stand and advance forward. Gibbs grabs him.

"I can't leave him there. I have to rescue him." Tony said. He struggles with Gibbs for a couple seconds before Gibbs pins him to the ground.

"Don't fuck this up by doing something stupid." Gibbs stated. "Keep your head straight."

"I'm sorry. I saw the look on Chioke's face and…"

"That's a natural fatherly reaction to seeing your child hurt. Its worry and concern for him, and angry toward the person hurting him." Gibbs said. "We'll get him back, Tony." He assures him.

Chioke is brought to one of the huts as the rest of the captives are brought to the slave pen where they'll stay until they're purchased. Once inside the hut, the man sits Chioke on a chair next to a table. The shackles are taken off Chioke. Another man puts a plate full of food unto the table. He points to the food and yells at Chioke in Korean. Chioke moves toward the table. As Chioke is eating, he notices another man is gathering some food. He knows the food will be given to the others as it's just a small amount. When no one is looking, Chioke stuffs some food into his pockets.

After about twenty minutes, Chioke is escorted to the slave pen. The slave pen is basically an outdoor cage with a wooden roof and no real solid walls, so from every side it's susceptible to the elements. Upon approaching the pen, a man close-by notices a piece of food on the ground. He picks up the food and looks at it. He yells in Korean as the guards are about to put Chioke into the slave pen. The guards look down at Chioke as they're yelling. Chioke struggles with the guards. While struggling, Chioke tries to toss as much food to the others as he possible can. The food lands in front of the slave pen. The captives reach through the bars and grab the food. As they grab the food, one guard tries to strike at their hands with a club. Each of the slaves eats what they were able to get from what Chioke tossed to them.

Chioke is taken away. He's brought to one of the huts and punished by being hit with a thin, wooden cane. Chioke is only struck two times because he's worth more as uninjured as possible.

After receiving his punishment, Chioke is brought to the slave pen. The door to the cage is open. Chioke is pushed inside. The door is closed and locked. All of the captives approach Chioke and try their best to comfort him as he's crying.


	5. Chapter 5

**Saturday**

**Chapter 5**

Just after dawn, a car drives into the trading camp. From the distance, Tony, Gibbs and Cal watch with their binoculars. The car stops in the camp. A man, wearing, in what seems to be an expensive suit, steps out of the car. The driver remains inside. A Korean man approaches the man in the suit. They shake hands. The Korean man motions for someone to come over. Another Korean man approaches; a translator. Through the translator, the two men are able to communicate.

They walk to the slave pen. The man in the suit points to Chioke as he's interested in purchasing him but wants to examine him first. The Korean man motions and tells the guard to take the kid out of the pen. Chioke is taken out.

Right in front of the slave pen, the man in the suit begins to examine Chioke. The man picks and pokes at Chioke. He lifts Chioke's shirt in order to get a better look at what he might purchase. Chioke is frightened as he doesn't know what's going on. The man in the suit looks up at the Korean man. He starts shouting. The translator tells the Korean man what is said. The two argue back and forth through the translator over the price of the child. After a couple minutes, a price is agreed upon. Chioke is shoved back into the slave pen. The three men, the Korean, the translator and the man in the suit, walk away in order to speak about where and how the child will be transported to the designated destination.

Finally, the man in the suit leaves the trading camp. The Koreans received part of the purchase cost up front. The rest of the money will be received upon arrival of the purchased child to the destination.

The Koreans take Chioke out of the slave pen. Chioke is brought to one of the huts. He will be prepared in order to leave and be taken to his destination. Chioke is given a bath, clean clothes and food.

About two hours later, Chioke is placed inside of a truck. Once inside, the Koreans bound his hands and feet. They also place a blindfold over his eyes. Chioke can now hardly move since his bound hands and feet are tied to the wall of the truck. Two men finally get in the truck; driver's seat and passenger's seat. The truck drives away and out of the trading camp.

The truck is heading north, up toward the China boarder. Chioke will be transported through China in order to reach the destination.

Already an hour away from the trading camp, the van suddenly stops. The men begin yelling in the Korean language. There's a log blocking the road. The men are forced to exit from the vehicle in order to move the log. They leave their weapons in the truck. The two Koreans approach the log. As soon as they place their hands onto the log, Tony, Gibbs and Cal pop out from the brush. Guns are immediately pointed at the two Koreans. With being unarmed, they raise their hands into the air and plea for their lives in their native language.

"What do we do with these two?" Tony wondered.

"There's only one thing we can do." Cal answered.

Tony wants to go into the truck to see Chioke, but the two Koreans need to be dealt with first. The two Koreans are escorted deep into the brush. They're forced to kneel. Cal places his assault rifle over his shoulder. He takes out a handgun and attaches a silencer. The two Koreans know what's about to happen so they plea for their lives. Cal walks behind the Koreans. He points the gun to the back of one of their heads.

"You can go now, Tony." Gibbs said. "There's no way these guys are getting away now."

Tony bolts away as fast as he can. Gibbs looks away. Cal pulls the trigger. The first Korean drops to the ground. Cal points the gun to the second Korean; to the back of his head. He pulls the trigger. The second Korean drops to the ground. Together, Gibbs and Cal gather leaves in order to cover the bodies.

Tony approaches the truck. He opens quickly opens the back. Tony's heart beats rapidly as he sees Chioke bound and tied to the side wall. He enters into the vehicle. Chioke begins shaking as he doesn't know who is approaching or what they're going to do to him. Speechlessness takes over as Tony feel so relieved that Chioke is now safe. Tony gently lifts the blindfold off of the shivering Chioke.

"Hey Kiddo." Tony said with a smile as Chioke is now able to see him.

Chioke turns his head in order to look away. Tony begins untying Chioke. Once Chioke is fully untied, Tony tries to wrap his arms around him. Chioke is pushing Tony away as he's confused and unsure if this is real or not. Tony's heart breaks as Chioke is pushing him away.

"Chioke… Please stop." Tony said. He continues to struggle. "Chioke…" Tony is finally able to wrap his arms around Chioke. Tony starts crying. "I'm sorry I couldn't rescue you sooner. I'm so sorry, Chioke." He becomes emotional at this point. "I'm so sorry this happened. Please forgive me, Chioke. I should've been there to protect you." As Tony continues holding Chioke tightly, Chioke's eyes become watery. "Your safety is all that matters to me. If you never forgive me, I'll understand. I really hope you do cause I can't lose you again, Kid. You're a part of my life. I love you."

With the sincerity of Tony's voice, Chioke finally wraps his arms around Tony. He holds onto Tony as tightly as he possibly can. After a minute, Chioke leans back; away from Tony.

'Love you too.' Chioke signed with his hands. 'I left wonder if you really love me or not. I hated you for not coming get me. I sorry I doubt you.'

"There's nothing for you to be sorry about." Tony wraps his arms around Chioke again.

Chioke twitches as Tony's hand brushes against his lower back. With the look in Chioke face, Tony can tell he's hurt. Tony gently lifts Chioke's shirt. He looks at Chioke's back. Tony sees two marks. The mark on the middle of Chioke's back isn't as bad as the lower one. Tony's heart breaks because where Chioke was hit on his lower back, it tore the skin.

"Oh God…" Tony cried.

'I try give others food. I get hit.' Chioke signed as a couple tears falls from his eyes. 'They make back hurt.'

"I'm so sorry." Tony cried as he wipes Chioke's tears away.

'Not you fault.' Chioke signed. 'Say sorry is sign of weakness.'

"Next, you'll be smacking me on the back of the head." Tony chuckled. Chioke leans up and smacks Tony on the back of the head. He smiles innocently. "You little rascal."

Tony wraps his arms around Chioke again. For Tony, he's happy, yet sad at the same time. Tony's happy he has Chioke back, but sad because Chioke is hurt. For Chioke, he's just happy to be in the loving arms of his father again.

Tony lifts Chioke into his arms and carries him out of the truck. Cal sits in the driver's seat of the vehicle. He puts the key in the ignition. The engine starts. Cal drives the truck deep into the brush in order to get it away from the road.

Gibbs, Tony and Chioke enter inside Cal's van which is hidden behind a nearby hill. Once in the van, Chioke and Tony move all the way to the back. Tony lies on the floor and Chioke curls up next to him. Gibbs lies on the floor behind the driver and passenger seats.

After a couple minutes, Cal finally returns. He enters into the driver's seat. The key is placed into the ignition. The engine starts. The van is now in motion to get back onto the road. The vehicle is moving south. They need to cross the boarder into South Korea before being clear of danger.

While driving, Cal reaches into his pocket. He pulls out a key from his pocket.

"Mr. Gibbs…" Cal tries to get his attention. Gibbs moves his position and looks at him.

"Yes?"

"Take this key." He hands the key to Gibbs. "When I drop you off at the airport in Seoul, go to locker number one hundred, fifty-six. Inside you'll find all the most recent Intel I've collected on the slave trading. Transporting the slaves through China is the key to it all. The North Koreans have to transport the slaves through China because the South Koreans patrol their waters and would try to put an end to it. There's too much tension between them. So their only option is going through China. If your government puts enough pressure on the Chinese government and acquires the aid of Japan, then the slave trade out of North Korea will end. It's very important your government receives…"

"I'll make sure my government receives the Intel."

The vehicle continues moving south. Gibbs and Cal continue to talk to each other since it will be a few hours before they reach the boarder. In the back of the van, Chioke remains curled in Tony's arms.


	6. Chapter 6

**Chapter 6**

On route to the southern boarder, everything is running smoothly until a couple shots are fired. Due to the penetrating bullets into the front of the van, Cal loses control of the vehicle.

"We have trouble! Brace yourselves!" Cal exclaimed. As he tries to regain control, the van swerves off the road and crashes into a tree.

A couple Koreans in army uniforms are approaching from the right side of the van. The side door opens. Gibbs and Tony pop out with their assault rifles blaring as they shoot. The unsuspecting Koreans fall to the ground as they were only aware of one person being inside the vehicle. Chioke remains lying on the floor inside of the van as he covers his ears. Gibbs and Tony are now just outside of the vehicle; near the side door. They're shooting at the oncoming Koreans. While still inside of the vehicle, Cal moves into the back of the van. He looks out all of the windows, in every direction and shoots at who he sees.

There's a large rock near where the van crashed. Gibbs dashes toward the rock as Tony stays near the van in order to protect it. Gibbs quickly looks around the rock to see three Koreans coming toward it; just a couple feet behind the rock. He finally leans over the side of the rock. He pulls the trigger. The three Koreans drop to the ground. Gibbs notices a couple other Koreans. He turns and fires. One of the Koreans he shot before begins moving. Gibbs turns and aims. He pulls the trigger. The weapon is empty. The Korean is close to standing. Gibbs runs around the rock, toward the Korean. As Gibbs approaches the man, he drops the assault rifle and takes out a knife. He slashes the Korean's throat. The man falls and bleeds out. Gibbs picks up on of the Korean weapons, turns and aims at a man who is trying to sneak up to the vehicle. He pulls the trigger. The sneaky Korean drops dead. Gibbs makes his way back to the van.

Suddenly, there's more gun-fire from the surrounding area behind the men of the Korean army. A couple rebels jump out shooting their guns.

After all of the Korean army men are laying dead on the ground, the rebels approach the vehicle. All of the rebels are pointing their weapons at Gibbs and Tony who are pointing their weapons back at them. The leader of the rebels begins yelling in the Korean language.

Cal exits from the vehicle. He speaks. There's tension as Cal and the rebel leader are arguing back and forth. After two minutes, the rebel leader gives the order to lower their weapons. They do. Cal motions for Gibbs and Tony and lower their weapons as well. They do. The rebel Koreans begin to walk away.

"Cal… Who are they?" Tony wondered.

"They're rebels who are against the Korean government." Cal replied. "More of the army will eventually come here. We must go with them."

The three of them walk to the van.

"Chioke… Come here." Tony said as he motions for Chioke to come to him. Chioke crawls to Tony.

The first thing Gibbs reaches for is the satellite phone. Upon realizing it's damaged and useless, he places it down; leaving it in the van. Gibbs and Cal grab everything they can carry. Tony lifts Chioke into his arms. They follow the rebels to their vehicles. Once everyone is in the vehicles, they drive away.

Eventually, they reach the rebel camp. The vehicles are parked and everyone gets out. The rebels at the camp stare at the foreigners; Gibbs, Tony and Chioke. A couple rebels approach and begin yelling at the foreigners as they don't welcome them in the camp. The leader of the rebels who helped them shouts back.

A Korean man, the commander of the rebels, approaches into the vicinity. Out of respect, the men stop arguing. The men speak in the Korean language to each other. The commander listens to both sides of the argument. Afterwards, he looks to Cal and asks for an explanation of why these foreigners are here. Cal explains everything.

The commander grants them the privilege of remaining in the camp and welcomes them by placing his hands together and bowing slightly. Gibbs does the same as does Tony. Chioke realizes the bowing is out of respect, so he does the same. With seeing Chioke bow, the commander chuckles and gently rubs Chioke's head.

Cal mentions to the commander that Chioke has an injury. The commander kneels down next to Chioke. He lifts Chioke's shirt and see the injury; the torn skin from the second strike with the cane that he received for sneaking food to the other slaves at the trading camp. The commander becomes slightly angered by this as he's against slavery. He speaks in a louder, angry tone of voice; bad mouthing the Korean government. The commander motions for a lady to come over. The lady is a nurse.

The lady looks at Chioke's injury. She speaks to Cal; telling him that if she doesn't take care of this now, the child may run the risk of infection. Cal looks to Tony.

"What did she say?" Tony asked out of concern for Chioke.

"She has some medicine which will prevent Chioke's injury from becoming infected." Cal said.

"Please, by all means." Tony said to the lady. The woman looks to Cal who tells her that the father gives his consent for her to treat his son.

The lady extends her hand to Chioke. He places his hand into hers. The woman, Chioke and Tony walk away.

About an hour later, Cal is speaking with the rebel commander about purchasing a vehicle. Gibbs is off somewhere; nowhere to be seen. Tony and Chioke are sitting at a table near one of the huts.

'Why not save others?' Chioke signed with his hands out of concern for the other captives.

For a minute, Tony is silent as it's a very tough question to answer. He finally opens his mouth and gives an explanation.

As Tony is giving Chioke an explanation, Gibbs comes running into the area. He waves his hands at them.

"Get in the hut!" Gibbs yelled. "The army is coming!"

Cal, who is the only Korean in the camp who knows English, begins yelling in his native language. The rebels scatter around the camp to find their weapons. Tony and Chioke move into the hut as does Gibbs. Cal runs to the hut shortly after.

Chioke lies on the ground inside the hut and covers his ears because he knows it's about to get very loud. Gibbs, Tony and Cal grab their assault rifles and prepare for the raid. Unfortunately for them, their position is close to the middle of the rebel camp.

The sound of gunfire begins as the camp is raided.

From inside the hut, Gibbs, Tony and Cal aim their weapons. They fire at the oncoming enemies. With the raid underway, Gibbs realizes he needs to get them out of the hut and away from the camp before more of the Korean army arrives.

Gibbs leads them out of the hut. Tony and Chioke are in the middle; with Chioke right behind Tony. Cal is in the back; behind Chioke. All three of the men are armed and ready for combat as they will now move toward the back of the camp in a cautious manner. As they move, they fire their weapons at the enemy.

They approach a small house. While passing the door, it opens. Chioke grabs onto Tony as he's startled. Tony quickly nails the man in the face with his assault rifle. The man stumbles backward into the house. Tony quickly points the gun and fires. The man drops. They continue to move.

As they move around the house, two enemies point their weapons. Gibbs points and pulls the trigger first. The two men drop to the ground. Gibbs' reaction time was quicker.

Once at the side of the house, there's a fairly large gap of open space to get to the next building. They all crouch down near a couple large boxes and containers. Tony and Cal remain alert of the surroundings. Chioke hides behind Tony. Gibbs peeks out around the house. The coast is clear.

"Cover me." Gibbs said. Cal moves to Gibbs' position as he runs across the open space. Gibbs successfully reaches the building and gets behind some cover. He motions for them to come.

Tony puts the assault rifle strap over his shoulder. Tony lifts Chioke into his arms; leaving one hand free to hold his sidearm. Cal gets ready to move with them. They run into the open space. As they're making their way across the open space, Gibbs notices a couple enemies. He provides cover fire. While running, Cal also fires.

They finally reach the building. Tony puts Chioke down and places the sidearm in the holster at his side. He takes the assault rifle from his shoulder. The four of them continue moving.

They approach another spot with a bunch of boxes, containers and other forms of cover which create an L shape from the corner of the building. A large amount of armed soldiers are approaching from the other side. The armed men start shooting at them. Gibbs, Tony and Cal shoot back. Gibbs moves into a different position a couple feet away in order to shoot at the soldiers that the others can't see. Cal remains near Tony. Chioke is right next to Tony inside the corner of the L shape cover as the gunfight with the soldiers continues. Chioke notices a soldier exit from the door at the building they're near. The only one who sees the soldier is Chioke. The soldier has yet to notice them because he was close to an explosion; he can hardly hear anything that's going on right now. From the place of cover and the position of the building from which the solider came out from, no bullets are flying in the immediate direction.

Chioke grabs the sidearm from Tony's holster. He points the gun at the soldier who finally sees him. Chioke's hands are shaking. The soldier smiles evilly as he pulls out a knife. Chioke's hands shake even more as the soldier moves closer. Chioke's little finger begins to pull the trigger. Tony, who needs a reload, ducks behind the cover and finally sees the soldier and Chioke about to shoot him.

"No!" Tony yelled. He uses his hand to push Chioke's arm to the side. The gun fires; the bullet hits the dirt to the side of the soldier. Tony grabs the gun out of Chioke's hand as the soldier charges. Tony smacks the gun into the soldier's face. He points the gun but the soldier kicks it. The gun flies off the side. Tony tackles the soldier.

Tony and the soldier are wrestling over position of the knife. After a minute, the soldier has Tony pinned. He's trying to push the knife into Tony's chest. Tony is holding it back but the knife is getting closer because the soldier is stronger. Chioke starts kicking and punching the soldier. After a couple hits, the soldier shoves Chioke away.

"You bastard!" Tony exclaimed in an angry tone of voice. He punches the soldier in the face. With the force of the blow, Tony is able to turn the tides of this match-up. He finally pins the soldier to the ground and pushes the knife toward the man's neck. The knife is less than one inch from the soldier's neck. Chioke jumps on Tony's back. With the little extra weight, the knife penetrates into the soldier's neck. The soldier bleeds out as Tony and Chioke look down at him. Chioke slides off Tony's back and sits down. The soldier finally dies as the gunfight finally stops. Tony turns to Chioke.

"I killed him, you hear me. You had nothing to do with his death. You never touched the knife. It was all me." Tony said. "I know you were trying to help. But his death is on my hands, not yours. You played no part in it. I killed him, you got it."

Chioke nods in trusting what Tony said about him not playing a role in the soldier's death.

"Come on, time to move." Gibbs said as he approaches.

Tony lifts Chioke into his arms.

They continue moving. After passing one more hut, they make it to the woods. As the gunfight continues between the rebels and the army, Gibbs, Tony, Chioke and Cal disappear into the brush.


	7. Chapter 7

**Chapter 7**

Gibbs, Tony, Chioke and Cal are deep in the forest of North Korea. Gibbs backtracked a bit to establish whether or not they're being followed. While Gibbs is backtracking, Tony, Chioke and Cal are resting near a hill after two hours of running from the rebel camp where the Korean army raided. Tony is sitting up against a rock. Chioke is sitting in Tony's loving arms. And Cal is standing nearby.

"How are we going to get out of here, Cal?" Tony wondered.

"I was hoping this would go smoothly…" Cal begins to say.

"Yeah… Well… That didn't happen."

"I know a place I can purchase a vehicle. We need to make it there."

"How far away is it?"

"With our current position we need to head southwest. If we keep moving, without stopping, we should make it there by morning."

"We're being followed." Gibbs stated as he enters into the vicinity. "I found a set of tracks. It's just one person. But we should keep moving."

Tony and Chioke stand. The four of them continue moving southwest. As they move, Gibbs makes his way to the side in order find the person following them.

After an hour, they stop near a hill. From the distance, the person following them is laying on top of a hill. He watches through his binoculars. He wonders where the foreigner with the grey hair is because he has no visual of him. The man looks in all directions.

Suddenly, a figure pops up in front of the man's binoculars. He looks up from behind the binoculars to see a gun pointed at him. The man smiles as he knows he got caught. Gibbs grabs the man.

Gibbs approaches the area where the others are resting. He shoves the man to the ground. The man begins speaking in the Korean language, begging for his life to be spared.

"What's he saying?" Gibbs wondered.

"He's saying they have his family. That he had no choice." Cal said.

"No choice about what?"

Cal approaches the man and forces him to stand. The man keeps begging to be spared. Cal reaches into the man's pocket. He pulls out a GPS device.

"Please don't tell me that…" Tony begins to say.

"He's been broadcasting our position this entire time." Cal stated. "The slave traders have a couple teams looking for us. They want the kid back."

Tony holds onto Chioke a little more tightly. Gibbs grabs the device and slams it on a rock. The device shatters.

"Now would be a good time to use the satellite phone to contact McGee so he can tell us where they are." Tony said.

"No, really?" Gibbs said in a sarcastic tone of voice. "Unfortunately, the satellite phone was destroyed in the van." He pauses for a couple seconds. "We're on our own and blind over here."

"An hour ago, you said you only found one set of tracks following us. Since we don't know what lies ahead, maybe we should go back and try a different route." Cal stated.

"I agree." Gibbs acknowledged and agreed with the plan. "We better move fast."

They, including the new travel companion, head back in the opposite direction. Gibbs stays ahead of them all in order to get a better view of what lies ahead. Halfway in the direction back toward the rebel camp, they move to the west.

Meanwhile, a bunch of armed men enter into the vicinity of where the last GPS transmission came from. Two of the men examine the busted GPS device. Another man, a tracker, establishes which direction they went. The Koreans head in the direction.

A couple hours pass.

Gibbs, Tony, Chioke, Cal and the extra Korean man are surrounded by armed men. All guns are pointing at them. The Koreans begin yelling. They're outnumbered. They have no choice but to surrender. A couple of the Koreans approach.

Chioke wraps his arms around Tony's waist. The Koreans grab Chioke. Tony tries to fight them off. There's a brief struggle as a couple Koreans grab hold of Tony. As Chioke is being pulled away, he reaches his hand out. Tony forces his hand free and grabs Chioke's hand. The Koreans try to pull them away from each other. Tony won't let go as he sees the worry and fear in Chioke's eyes.

Finally, one of the Korean bashes his weapon into Tony's stomach. The blow really hurt Tony, but his hand grip with Chioke is unfazed. The Korean bashes Tony in the face with the weapon. His hand finally releases. Chioke is dragged away.

"Chioke!" Tony exclaimed. He breaks free of the people holding him; knocking five Koreans to the ground. Tony runs to Chioke who reaches his hand out for him.

Three Koreans immediately shove their weapons in Tony's face. Tony watches as Chioke is dragged further and further away from him. Chioke struggles with the men. Tony feels helpless to do anything as all he can do is watch.

Chioke finally breaks free after biting one of the men. He runs in Tony's direction as fast as he can. Two of the Koreans guarding Tony grab Chioke. He reaches his hand to Tony. Without hesitation, Tony reaches his hand out. As their fingers touch, the stock of a weapon is slammed to Tony's head. Tony falls to the ground. He lies on the ground unconscious.

The chief Korean, the man who runs the trading camp, enters into the area. He begins yelling and screaming. He gives an order.

The armed men force Cal and the Korean who had the GPS device to kneel. The chief approaches. He grabs a sidearm from one of his men. He points the gun at Cal. The trigger is pulled. Cal drops to the ground. The chief points the gun at the other man. He begs for his life and the lives of his family. The trigger is pulled. The man drops to the ground. Both Cal and the Korean man lie dead on the ground in a pool of their own blood.

The chief shouts another order. Gibbs and Chioke are escorted away. Two other Koreans grab the unconscious Tony from off the ground. The three of them are brought to the vehicles. Gibbs and Tony are placed in a truck while Chioke is placed inside of a jeep.

The three of them are brought back to the trading camp.


	8. Chapter 8

**Sunday**

**Chapter 8**

Around 01:00 early Sunday morning, Tony and Gibbs are in the cage at the trading camp. Tony's eyes are closed as he's lying on the ground. He begins to moan. Tony places his hand on his head and rubs where he was hit by the weapon which knocked him unconscious. Gibbs, who is sitting right next to Tony, looks down at him.

"What happened? Where are we?" Tony wondered as he finally opens his eyes.

"We're in a cage at the trading camp." Gibbs replied.

"Where's Chioke?!" Tony immediately sits up. The overwhelming feeling of being worried quickly takes over.

"He…"

"Chioke!" Tony stands up and looks in every direction as Chioke is of more concern than his hurting head.

"Tony…"

"Chioke!" Tony runs to the door of their cage. He wraps his hands around the bars of the cage door and starts shaking it. "Chioke!"

A guard walks to the cage door and pulls out a club. He swings at Tony's hand. Tony pulls his hand back after begin hit. A couple seconds pass. Tony places his hands on the bars and shakes the door again. The guard swings. Tony quickly moves his hands. He grabs the guard by the arm. With all of his might, Tony pulls the guard to the door. The guard's face slams into the cage door. The guard falls to the ground.

Another guard comes along and points a gun at Tony who raises his hand and backs away as if he didn't do anything. The guard grabs the unconscious man who is lying on the ground in the front of the cage door and drags him away.

Tony turns to Gibbs who is still sitting in the same place he was when Tony finally woke up. Tony has a look of pain on his face as he rubs the hand which was hit with the club.

"Ow…" Tony cried as he shakes his hand then continues rubbing it.

"Chioke is with the other captives." Gibbs stated.

"I failed him." Tony said in a sad voice as he sits near Gibbs.

"You didn't…"

"Of course I did! He's still here and now we are too. I failed to rescue him, Gibbs."

"Look… I don't know how we're going to get out of this or if we ever will. But I do know you succeeded in showing Chioke how much he means to you and how much you truly love him."

"That means nothing without being free!"

"A person can go the rest of their life without being free, but hope keeps them strong. You've given him that hope, Tony."

"I know you're trying to cheer me up, Gibbs. And it's kind of working but not really. Thanks anyway…"

The camp translator walks up to the cage. He pounds a club against the bars to get the captives attention. Tony and Gibbs look in his direction.

"You two cost us a client due to your interference. We run a stable operation and maintain a certain reputation for excellence by keeping things under control." The translator stated. "We believe in punishment here. You will be punished for your interference."

"You will be punished for your interference." Tony mocked the man. He laughs. "If you're looking for an apology…" He stands. "Here it is." Tony bends over and pulls his pants down; showing his ass to the translator. "Here's my apology…" Tony licks his hand and smacks his ass. "Kiss my ass white you fruity piece of Korean crap."

The translator walks away. Tony laughs as he pulls his pants up.

"That blow to the head really messed you up." Gibbs said.

"I've been meaning to ask you something, Boss." Tony said as he sits near Gibbs. "A week and a half ago, we had your psycho brother in custody…"

"I had a rough childhood. I admit that. At times, I know I'm hard on all of you… Especially you since you married to my daughter. I don't expect you to even remotely understand why I am the way I am. My childhood was not even close to being ideal. Yes, it has helped shape me into who I am today. I'm not as bad off as other people who have been through what I have. It's hard to overcome and will always effect the person it happened to. A lot of abused people are able to…"

"I was really going to just ask you why you sent Ziva and McGee to search your brother's apartment when it was already thoroughly searched…"

"And why I didn't send you off to go do something as well."

"Did you want me to continue hearing all of that stuff?" Tony wondered.

There's a brief pause of silence. Gibbs takes a deep breath.

"I could've easily sent you away to do something to waste your time so you didn't continue hearing about me. I'm surprised I didn't." Gibbs stated. "But I allowed you to remain in the observation room. The things my brother said are things I probably wouldn't have ever told you…"

"Than why did you not send me away?"

"I'm honestly not sure." Gibbs answered. "I kind of wish I did though."

"I'm glad you didn't." Tony said. "I never expected or imagined your childhood was like what your brother described. No child should ever go through the things you did…"

"If I could go back in time… I wouldn't change any of it."

"Why?"

"Cause it helps me be a better father. I know how to feels to not be loved. To be abused; emotionally, verbally, physically… Even… Well… I don't want to mention the last one. But you get the idea. The thing is… It helped because I know exactly what not to do as a father. I vowed to be the complete opposite of what my father was. No child should ever have to go through what I went through. And there is no way I would ever put my child through the same pain and suffering. Being a good father to Jamie is my way of putting right what was doing wrong with me."

"You may not have been in Jamie's life for fifteen years due to being mislead about her being dead when she wasn't…" Tony begins to say. He pauses and takes a breath. "But I'm sure you're well aware of how much you mean to Jamie. I look up to you, Gibbs. The relationship you have with Jamie, it… Through your example, I think I'm doing a better job with Chioke then I probably would have been doing."

Tony's eyes start to become watery as he remembers where they are.

"What's going to happen to Chioke?" Tony asked as he wipes a couple tears from his eyes.

With not knowing what to tell him due to their current situation, Gibbs scoots closer to Tony. He places his arm over Tony's shoulder. Tony leans closer and cries in Gibbs' arms.

Hours pass.

Close to noon, a couple guards enter into the cage. They place shackles on both Tony and Gibbs. They're escorted out of the cage.

The two of them are brought to an area with two ten foot high rocks. Upon approaching the rocks, the shackles are detached from one of their hands. Both of them are shoved against the rocks. Both of them are facing each other from the rocks which are only a couple feet apart from each other.

Tony stares into Gibbs' eyes as his face is being pressed against the rock. The chain of the shackle is wrapped around the rock. Once around the rock, the shackle is placed back around Tony's wrist. On the other side of the rock, two men grab the chain of the shackles. They place one foot against the rock and use their bodies to pull the chain toward them. Tony's body is pressed against the rock even tighter. The same thing is done to Gibbs. The two of them keep eye contact with each other.

Suddenly, Tony's eyes widen as he hears the crack of a whip. His heart begins pounding. The translator steps between the two rocks. He looks into Tony's eyes.

"It's time for your punishment." The translator stated. "You're first by the way."

"Come on…" Tony laughed. "You can't think of a more original punishment than this. How sad…"

"It's very effective. I hope you enjoy it as much as we will." The translator grins and moves away.

Tony is finally able to see Gibbs again. Gibbs can tell from the expression on Tony's face that he's worried and scared.

"What movie does this remind you of, Tony?" Gibbs asked.

"Are you kidding me?!" Tony said as he's unsure why Gibbs is asking such a dumb question at a time like this.

"Just answer the question."

The man with the whip moves his arm around. The whip smacks against Tony's back.

"Ow!" Tony cried in pain after receiving the first of many whips against his back.

"Talk to me, Tony." Gibbs said. "What movie?"

"At this specific moment, Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom..." Tony stated. "Harrison Ford stars as Indiana Jones…" The whip is smacked across Tony's back a second time. "Argh!" He cried in pain. Gibbs can see the pain in Tony's face. Tony breathes heavier, but quickly calms it down. "It's the second Indiana Jones adventure. The movie is set in 1935. Indian Jones is an archeologist…" The whip smacks across his back a third time. "Argh!" He cried. "The movie starts off in Hong Kong where Indiana is trying to make a trade with the gangster over the ashes of a Ming dynasty emperor." The whip smacks across his back a fourth time. "Ah! Oh God…" He cried.

"Keep going, Tony. Tell me more."

As Tony continues telling Gibbs about the movie, Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom, he receives a couple more lashes across his back. Each hit with the whip tears the skin on Tony's back. After receiving ten lashes in total, the man with the whip moves behind Gibbs because it's his turn to be punished.

At this point, Tony is in so much pain as each of the ten lashes tore the skin. Blood is oozing from each wound. The whip is finally smacked across Gibbs' back.

"Argh!" Gibbs cried in pain. He receives ten more lashes.

After receiving the first of many forms of punishment, both Tony and Gibbs are thrown back into their cage.


	9. Chapter 9

**Friday**

**Chapter 9**

In the late afternoon, Ziva and McGee are in the bullpen at NCIS Headquarters. They've been working on trying to establish how Chioke was taken out of the country without sounding off any alarms with the Amber Alert.

"I think I found something…" McGee said.

"What did you find?" Ziva wondered.

"The Amber Alert was put in full affect within six minutes of Chioke being abducted…"

"I already know that, McGee."

"If Chioke was on the Kron-Printzen at the time we found out what happened…"

"Get to the point, McGee."

"A cargo ship can't cross the Pacific Ocean in five days. It's just not possible." McGee stated. "He must have been flown out of the country."

"But the Amber Alert was in full affect at all airports."

"True… But take a look at this." McGee puts the information from his computer up onto the plasma screen for Ziva to see. "Take a look at who owns the airport highlighted in red."

"Geoffrey Benson… So what?"

"He's the father of…" McGee presses the enter key on his keyboard. The information shows on the plasma screen for Ziva to see. "Shawn Benson and Petty Officer Wade Benson; the guys involved with the bank heist a while ago."

"Oh…" Ziva recognized the name now.

"Anyway… He owns the airport. And guess what… He also owns one of the airlines. It's highlighted for you."

"His airline took off from the airport within thirty minutes of the abduction. No passengers. It was strictly a cargo flight to Japan."

"My guess is the cargo included Chioke."

"He had Chioke abducted in retaliation for his son Shawn being in a federal prison for the next twenty years without any chance of parole."

"That's what I'm thinking." McGee agreed. "He could easily sneak a person into the airport without anybody noticing."

"You should get in contact with Gibbs to let him know."

"That might be a problem. I think their satellite phone may have been damaged because I lost all contact with them."

Just as Jamie enters into the bullpen, Fornell steps off the elevator. A couple seconds, Fornell enters into the bullpen. He's holding a video tape.

"Gibbs isn't back yet, Fornell." McGee said. "He should be back today or tomorrow. Or maybe he should've been back already. I'm honestly not sure because he never actually gave me a return date and time."

"Jamie… I think you should leave so I can talk to them." Fornell said.

"Whatever you tell them, I'm going to find out later."

"Fair enough…"

Fornell walks to the VCR and puts the video tape in.

"We received this video tape today." Fornell said. He looks to Jamie. "I suggest closing your eyes for this."

"What's on the tape, Tobias?" Jamie asked in concern and worry.

The tape begins playing. The four of them watch. Jamie's eyes get watery as she watches what's on the tape. The tape is video footage of Tony and Gibbs being tortured and Chioke being forced to watch.

"Turn it off." Jamie said as she turns her head and wipes a couple tears from her eyes.

"Isn't there anything we can do?" McGee asked.

"Unfortunately, there's no diplomatic solution for this." Fornell stated. He turns to Jamie. "I'm sorry Jamie. There's not much…" She grabs Fornell and looks him in the eyes.

"Do something!" Jamie shouted.

"Where'd Ziva go?" McGee wondered as he notices she's not at her desk anymore. Jamie and Fornell turn their heads to look around. Ziva vanished from the bullpen without anyone noticing.

A couple minutes pass as Ziva speeds through the streets of Washington D.C.

Ziva arrives at the Israeli Embassy. She barges into the office of Mossad Officer Michael Bashan. He looks up from behind his desk.

"I need…" Ziva begins to say as a security officer enters and grabs her by the arm. She looks to the man's hand as if she's going to break it.

"It's alright, Eli." Officer Bashan said. He motions for him to leave.

The security officer takes his hand off of Ziva. He walks out the door; closing it behind him.

"Come, Officer David… Sit." Officer Bashan welcomed her. "What is it you need?"

"I need to use the secure line." Ziva stated.

"You don't need the secure line to contact your…"

"I'm not going to contact my father, Bashan. But it's urgent. And I need it right now."

"From the tone of your voice, you sound desperate."

"Can I use the secure line or not?!" Ziva exclaimed as she slams her hands on the desk. He stands.

"Come…" Officer Bashan walks out from behind his desk.

Mossad Officer Bashan leads Ziva to the room where the secure line is. They walk into the room.

"You have five minutes, Ziva." Officer Bashan stated. He walks to the door. He walks out and closes the door behind him.

Ziva is now in the room all by herself. She has complete privacy and access to the secure line. She picks up the phone and dials a number. On the other line, a man answers.

"I need your help." Ziva said in the Hebrew language.

Ziva continues talking in Hebrew with the man on the other line. After three minutes, she hangs up the phone. She leaves the room.

"You know Ziva…" Officer Bashan begins to say.

"I really don't have the time to talk about my issues with my father right now, Bashan." Ziva said in frustration.

"I was going to say… If there's anything more you need, don't hesitate to ask."

"I won't."

"May I ask what the urgency of the call pertained to?"

"You may… But it's on a need-to-know basis, Bashan. And you don't need to know."

Ziva walks away. She leaves the Embassy and makes her way to the airport.


	10. Chapter 10

**Saturday**

**Chapter 10**

Tony and Gibbs have been prisoners of the Korean slave traders for six days now. Both of them have been battered and tortured for six days straight. They're both badly bruised and have wounds all over their bodies.

It's Saturday morning, just after dawn.

The door to Tony and Gibbs' cage swings open. There's a loud bang as it slams against the bars. Tony and Gibbs wake up as a couple guards enter into the cage. Gibbs is immediately struck in the face with a club and falls to the ground. Two guards grab Tony and drag him away. A couple guards remain in the cage. The guards in the cage proceed to beat Gibbs with their clubs. Gibbs, who is lying on the ground, uses his arms to protect his face from being hit as almost every other part of his body is being pounded on.

Tony is dragged into one of the buildings. Once inside, the guards throw him to the floor. As Tony turns his head to look up, one guard punches him in the face. The other guard kicks Tony in the stomach. The two guards grab Tony and force him to stand. They tear his shirt off and hold him. Another guard walks over. The guard is holding a club with barbed wire around it. Tony eyes widen.

The guard strikes Tony in the chest with the barbed wire club. A couple spots of Tony's chest begin to bleed. The guards continue to hold him up. He's struck again; this time in the stomach area. Once again, a couple spots begin to bleed. Tony manages to force his way free of the guards holding him, but is quickly knocked to the floor. The guard with the barbed wire club proceeds to pound it against Tony's back.

The already scabbing wounds on Tony's back due to the whip from six days ago tear and bleed. The guard pounds the barbed wire club against Tony's back four more times. The door tot eh building swings open. The guards grab Tony and force him to stand. They sit Tony in the chair and tie him to it. He's hardly able to move. The only parts of his body he can really move are his legs and his head. The blood from Tony's back drips onto the floor.

The guards begin smoking cigars. A chair is placed a couple feet in front of Tony. The translator walks in with Chioke. Upon seeing Tony hurt, Chioke manages to break free. He runs in Tony's direction. Two guards try to grab him, but Chioke dodges both of them. After reaching Tony, Chioke quickly wraps his arms around Tony's neck. Two guards grab Chioke and try to pull him away.

"Don't touch my son!" Tony shouted at the man who can't understand him to begin with.

The two guards continue trying to pull Chioke away, but he won't let go. A couple other guards, who are just standing around smoking cigars, start laughing and making fun of the two guys who don't seem to be able to handle a child. The translator grabs a cigar out of the mouth of a guard and walks next to Tony.

"When a child needs to behave…" The translator begins to say in English so Tony understands. "There's always one way of forcing better behavior from a child." He presses the cigar against Chioke's arm.

Chioke's arms quickly unwrap themselves from around Tony's neck.

"You fuckin bastard!" Tony said as he looks at the man standing at his side. He struggles trying to break free from the chair.

Tony looks forward. He watches as Chioke is being tied to the chair a couple feet in front of him. Due to the cigar burn to his arm, tears are flowing from Chioke's eyes. Tony is angered by this cruel action.

"I'm going to kick…" Tony begins to say.

"Kick my ass?! That might prove to be a bit difficult in your current situation." The translator said. He punches Tony in the face. The man walks to another guard and grabs the cigar from his mouth. He walks to Chioke. "Now… I would strongly suggest telling us what we want to know." He puts the cigar closer to Chioke's leg. Chioke looks to Tony who sees the fear in his eyes.

"What do you want to know?" Tony asked.

"It's so nice of you to finally be cooperative, or at least show some cooperation." The translator said. He reaches into his pocket. "We know someone has been keeping tabs on our operation. My boss got a little trigger happy upon your capture. He killed the man you called, Cal; the man we suspected of sharing valuable Intel with your government."

"What the hell do you want from me?!"

"He gave your friend a key." The translator stated as he reaches into his pocket. He takes out a key and holds it up for Tony to see. "We want to know what this key is for."

Tony knows what the key is for. He knows it's the key to a locker at the airport in Seoul, South Korea. The information in the locker is a valuable asset to shutting down this slave trading operation. Tony knows it's something which can't be handed over to them. But at the same time, he can't bear to watch Chioke being hurt, or even knowing of it happening.

"That's our key. We brought it with us." Tony chuckled.

"You've never seen this key before in your life!" The translator yelled. He walks over to Tony. He shoves the key in Tony's face. "You see that… Those are Korean symbols!"

"It looks more like a bunch of tool scratches to me."

"That's because someone didn't want anybody to know where the key came from!" The translator punches Tony in the face with the key in hand. Tony's cheek now has a cut across it due to the key being scratched against. "A tool was used to remove the markings. We can still tell those are Korean symbols on the key. Not enough is still visible to know which symbols."

"You do realize I'm American, right?"

"Maybe you'll be more cooperative if I…" The translator begins to say as he walks to Chioke.

"I don't know what the key is for! I honestly don't."

"I think you do." The translator pushes the cigar toward Chioke's neck.

"The kid is more valuable to you unharmed." Tony stated. "Cuts, burns, scratches… All run the risk of becoming infected. I don't think your boss would appreciate the merchandise being of lesser value due to your incompetence." He sees the translator's hand pulls away from threatening to burn Chioke again.

The translator speaks to a guard in their native language. The guard walks out the door. The translator turns to Tony.

"I guess you have a point." The translator said. He speaks again in his native language. Two guards walk over to Tony. They take his shoes off and hold his legs up. Another guard carries a heavy leg rest over and places it down. Tony's leg are placed onto the leg rest and strapped to it. His bare feet are hanging just off the furthest side of the leg rest. Chioke chair is dragged a little further away, yet remaining in front of the chair Tony is tied to. The translator grabs a cigar from a guard's mouth. He walks to the leg rest. "But you on the other hand…" He presses the cigar to Tony's left foot.

"Argh!" Tony cried from the pain of the cigar burn.

"What's the key for?!"

"I don't know!"

The cigar is now pressed to Tony's right foot.

"Argh!" Tony cried again.

The man the translator sent out finally comes back in. He applies some type of creamy substance to the burn mark on Chioke's arm. The camp doesn't have much medicine, but Chioke is getting what the man was actually able to find.

Tears flow from Chioke's eyes as he's forced to watch Tony being tortured with cigar burns to his feet. After a couple cigar burns, a paddle is smacked to the bottom of Tony's feet. Through the torture, Tony doesn't disclose any information about the key. And Chioke remains untouched, just forced to watch.


	11. Chapter 11

**Monday**

**Chapter 11**

On a hill off in the distance from the trading camp, Ziva and two other people hide in the shadows of the darkness. They use night vision goggles to watch the camp. Two people approach after returning from examining the camp.

"What's the threat assessment?" Ziva asked in the Hebrew language.

"There are fifty-five known targets…" Seff begins to say in Hebrew.

"…Which need to be neutralized." Seth finished the sentence, also in Hebrew. "Of the fifty-five targets…"

"…Twenty of them guard the perimeter of the camp." Seff finished the sentence. "The perimeter guards check-in with central control…"

"…Every ten minutes." Seth finished the sentence.

"You guys really need to stop doing that." Jael stated in Hebrew.

"It's freaky how you two always finish each other's sentences." Yair said in Hebrew.

"I actually missed it." Ziva chuckled.

"We've recorded audio samples during several check-ins…" Seff begins to say.

"…Which we can use to playback for central control." Seth finished. "With the software on this laptop and the audio devices which we'll attach to each of the guards walkie talkies after they've been neutralized…"

"…We'll be able to use the recordings to check-in with central control." Seff finished. "Every ten minutes, central control contacts the guards in a specific order…"

"And since…" Seth begins to say but Yair places his hand over his mouth.

"We'll attach the audio devices which will allow Seff to control the check-in order from up here." Ziva stated to move things along. "You need to also provide sniper cover."

Seff grabs the bag with the semi-automatic sniper rifle. He opens the bag and starts putting the rifle together. The sniper rifle he'll use includes: a silencer, special support legs and a high powered night vision scope.

"Jael, you enter the camp from the west. Yair, you take the east. Seth, you take the south. And I'll enter from the north." Ziva stated. "We infiltrate the camp. Neutralize every threat. Eliminate central control. Do everything quietly and maintain radio silence unless absolutely necessary." She added. "Our goal is package number one, the kid, package number two, my two coworkers and package number three, the nine captives. We leave no one behind."

"In working with NCIS, you've grown compassionate." Yair stated. "Not that it's a bad thing."

"People change, Yair. I've changed." Ziva said. She extends her hand forward. Her hand is in the middle of the human circle. "Let's do what we do best boys."

One by one, the four guys place their hand over Ziva's hand.

They break the hand contact. Seff immediately works on the laptop to get the audio samples set and ready. Each of the others places an earwig into one of their ears and puts a black mask over their head to complete their black outfits. They each grab their weapons; each having the same. The weapons consist of: a submachine with silencer, a handgun with silencer and a couple knives.

Ziva and her crew move down the hill while Seff remains behind with the laptop and sniper rifle, watching from his vantage point.

Almost forty-five minutes later, everybody is in position and studying their area. After studying the enemy for a couple minutes, they await for the check-ins to begin. Once the check-in period is over, they'll have ten minutes before Seff needs to use the audio samples.

The check-ins starts. As the check-in period is underway, they wait for Ziva to give the word for them to begin their infiltration of the trading camp.

"Move in." Ziva ordered as she hears over the radio the very last check-in.

They all move in.

Ziva, who is entering into the trading camp from the north, moves behind a tree. The submachine gun with silencer is on a strap around her body. With no weapon in hand, Ziva creeps around the tree; toward the first building where the guard is lighting up a cigarette. As the man blows smoke into the air, hands quickly grab his head. Before he can make a sound, his neck is snapped. Ziva gently places the man on the ground.

Ziva leans against the corner of the building. She slowly glides two knives out from her belt; one knife in each hand. A guard rounds corner halfway. One knife is thrust into the man's chest as the other one if thrust into his neck. Being unable to speak, Ziva twists the knives inside the man's body. Bloody gushes out as Ziva looks into the man's eyes as he dies. The man is dragged behind the building and placed next to the other dead man.

Ziva wipes her bloody hands on one of the guard's. Afterwards, she grabs the walkie talkie from the belt of both guards. The audio device is attached to both walkie talkies. Ziva continues moving.

From behind cover, Ziva watches a guard who is standing near a door to a small hut. The light in the hut is on. She notices motion inside of the hut. As the guard near the door faces the opposite direction, Ziva makes a move. She quietly approaches the guard from behind. A knife is thrust into the man's neck. Ziva immediately pulls the man toward her as she kicks in the door to the hut. Just inside the hut, she triple taps the two men in their hearts with her silencer handgun. Both men inside the hut fall to the ground and bleed out as they're dead. Ziva turns her head to the left where she still has the knife in a man's neck. The silencer handgun is holstered. She leans in closer to the man; from behind.

"By the way…" Ziva begins to say as she places her free hand on the man's head for support of what she's about to do. "You're dead." She pushes the knife away from the man. The man's neck rips to the point of almost completely decapitating his head from his body. The guard is dragged into the hut. After attaching the audio device to the walkie talkie, Ziva leaves the hut and closes the door.

Ziva approaches an area where three guards are relatively standing around the same spot. One guard walks away into the woods, in order to relieve himself. Ziva follows. The man stands next to a tree and handles business. After relieving himself, takes a deep breathe and leans against the tree.

The new check-in period starts. It all runs smoothly with the devices attached to the walkie talkies of dead guards. The playback of audio samples worked. After almost three minutes, the check-in period ends.

The guard leaning against the tree closes his eyes. His eyes quickly open as a knife penetrates into his neck; pinning him to the tree. Blood gusts out as he watches a dark figure, Ziva, runs in his direction. As Ziva runs passed, she grabs the knife out of the man's neck. The guard falls to the ground and finally dies.

Ziva runs into the area where the other two guards are standing. The knife used to kill the man who relieved himself launches into the chest of one of the guards. The man falls to the ground as Ziva triple taps the second guard in the chest and two in the head. The man also falls. Ziva attaches the audio device to the walkie talkies. She continues moving.

A minute later, Ziva is quietly approaching an unsuspecting Korean guard who is sleeping in a chair. She clinches her knife; ready to stab the man. Suddenly, the man falls backward and lands on the ground. Ziva looks at the dead man with a bullet hole in his head. The force of a bullet going through his head caused him to fall backward.

"Seff, you bastard… He was mine." Ziva said softly over the radio in Hebrew.

"I couldn't resist." Seff replied in Hebrew from behind the sniper rifle at his vantage point on the hill in the distance.

Ziva continues moving through the camp. She quietly enters into a small building with a couple beds. Three men are sleeping in the separate beds. Ziva approaches the first bed. Her knife slashes the man's throat from ear to ear. The man dies instantly as he bleeds out. Ziva approaches the second bed.

"Ziva… You have company." Seff said over the radio to her. "Front door."

Ziva crouches next to the second bed and stabs the man in the chest. The door opens and a man enters. He's immediately triple tapped in the chest and two in the head. The man falls to the floor; knocking over a chair. Due to the slight noise of the falling man and the chair, the man in the third bed jolts up. A knife quickly penetrates into his chest and two bullets to the head. He falls onto his bed. All of the men in the small building are dead at Ziva's hands. She exits.

Ziva approaches the cage where Tony and Gibbs are held. She shoots the lock. It falls off. She enters inside. Tony and Gibbs wake up to a dark figure nudging them. Upon waking up, the submachine gun with silencer is handed to Gibbs. He accepts it, but it unsure as to who stands before him.

"Package number two acquired." Ziva stated in Hebrew. Both Tony and Gibbs immediately recognize the voice.

"Package number one and three acquired." Yair said in Hebrew. Seth grabs Chioke and takes him out since he's one of two very important packages to acquire. Chioke, who doesn't know what's going on, struggles and hits the man. Yair, the only other member in the group who can speak more than just Hebrew, speaks to the captives in whatever language he thinks they know due to their ethnicity. He then escorts them out of the slave pen.

Ziva walks to the door of the cage.

"Ziva?" Tony wondered. Even though he only heard the figure speaks Hebrew, he still recognized the voice. He's sure it's Ziva, but unsure at the same time.

Ziva says nothing because she's worried about there being a couple more Koreans around, but mostly worried about how Gibbs will react to seeing the people helping her with this rescue. She motions for them to follow. They all leave the cage.

"I have to find Chioke." Tony stated in worry for his adopted son.

"Chioke is safe." Ziva said. "We have him."

"We can't leave without getting a key from the camp translator." Gibbs stated.

"Where is he?" Ziva asked.

"He should be in that building." Gibbs points to it.

The three of them run toward the building. Tony is a bit slower in running due to his feet pain from the cigar burns and paddle smacking from the other day.

They approach the building. The light is on and there's movement inside. Only the translator is inside.

"Wait here." Ziva said. Tony and Gibbs wait near the side door as Ziva moves to the other side of the building. Ziva enters through a window. Upon approaching the translator inside the building, Ziva quickly shoots both of his arm; rendering them useless to defend himself. Before he can even open his mouth in order to scream, she shoves a knife into his abdomen. Ziva places her hand over his mouth and pins him against the wall. The knife is twisted inside the man's abdomen. She sees the pain in the translator's face.

"I hear you have a key. And I want it. If you give it to me… I'll make it worth your while." Ziva said in a soft, sexy voice. A couple second pass as she watches his eyes move to the side. "Thank you for telling me." She said as he's eyes told her where to find the key. Tony and Gibbs finally enter into the building.

"Let me take him." Tony said as he grabs a knife from off the table. Ziva moves to the side a bit as she's allowing Tony to take over; they switch hand placement over the man's mouth. Ziva takes her knife out of the translator's abdomen. Tony looks into the translator's fearful eyes. "I'm not one to kill a man in cold blood… But in your case I'll make an exception." Tony angrily thrusts the knife into the man's chest. Blood pours out. Tony continues to look in the man's fearful eyes. "You hurt my son. Nobody hurts my son and gets away with it." He twists the knife in the man's chest.

The translator finally dies from loss of blood. Ziva takes the key out of a desk. Gibbs nods as it's the correct key. The three of them leave the building.

After Jael eliminating central control, they continue to neutralize the remaining Korean threat. Every threat in the trading camp is dealt with in a quiet manner. No broadcast of any trouble ever gets out.


	12. Chapter 12

**Tuesday**

**Chapter 12**

Around dawn, the rescuers and rescued people are sitting in the woods near a hill. The group as a whole is resting after a long night of running through the woods. They sit in three smaller groups in separate areas; away from each other. From where Gibbs, Tony and Chioke are sitting, Gibbs continues to glance at Ziva with the group people she's with; the people who helped aid in the rescue. Gibbs clinches onto a gun to be ready just in case. From Ziva's small group, the men are cautious of Gibbs because they don't trust him. Ziva and her friend only talk in Hebrew to each other.

"We need to take his gun away." Jael stated as he notices where Gibbs' hand is.

"Or just kill him to get it over with." Yair said.

"No killing." Ziva stated. "Besides, if you kill my boss, NCIS will just assign another agent to lead in apprehending you guys. It'll never end."

"We can always just kill all of them." Jael said chuckled.

"Like you guys don't regret what happened last time." Ziva said.

There's a brief moment of silence as the men recall the incident from a couple years ago.

"When we heard NCIS was pursuing Amir and finally captured him…" Seth begins to say.

"…We knew it was because of him playing his usual games of cat and mouse." Seff finished the sentence.

"I was asked to do the interrogation." Ziva stated. "Amir committed suicide by bashing his head against the corner of a table."

"We never worried about him divulging Intel on our locations." Yair said with confidence.

"Upon his capture, Amir's loyalty to the crew was never in question." Jael added.

"Once we get all these people across the boarder to South Korea…" Seff begins to say.

"…You should come with us, Ziva." Seth finished.

"You guys are my brothers. My first real family…" Ziva stated. "But I can't go back to that life. Not after the incident. But I've changed. I belong where I am now because I feel more alive than I've ever felt before. I'm happy where I am. And I'll accept whatever consequences I receive upon returning to the states."

"It's understandable. We all lost a piece of ourselves due to the incident. As for coming with us, we're on the run from NCIS, Mossad and a couple other governmental authorities." Yair said. "You've always been a little sister to all of us."

"We've been talking it over… We came to the conclusion that if you decide to not come with us, to give you permission to divulge any and all Intel on us to NCIS." Jael stated. "You're our sister, Ziva. It's been that way since the day the team was formed. You do what you need to do in order to survive, even if that means giving them Intel."

"I could never…" Ziva begins to say.

"You don't have much of a choice." Yair said as he places his hand on Ziva's knee. "If it'll keep you out of prison, we'll turn ourselves in to have you granted with immunity. That's how far we're willing to go in order to lookout for you."

"I love you guys. I always felt part of something with you all." Ziva said as she tries not to get emotional.

"All of us agree that…" Seff begins to say.

"…You're the only family we've ever known." Seth finished.

"Is there ever a time when you two don't finish each other's sentences?" Jael wondered. "We know you two are twins, not identical, but it's like you share the same brain."

"After years of practicing and studying our thought patterns…" Seth begins to say.

"…It just clicks to the point of knowing exactly what the other would've said if they actually finished the sentence before the takeover." Seff finished.

"After a couple years of not hearing the sentence finishing, you actually miss it." Ziva chuckled. "That's the thing I remember most about you two. It makes me laugh when I reminisce about old times."

There's a brief pause of silence as Ziva looks away. She looks in Gibbs' direction where she sees him and Tony chatting. Chioke is sleeping in Tony's lap. Tony has his arms wrapped around Chioke and gently rocking him back and forth. Ziva cracks a smile with seeing Tony and Chioke together again.

Ziva stands. Her heart beat increases as she continues walking in Gibbs' direction. Now, she finds it hard to breathe properly. Ziva stops walking halfway between both families; her old crew and the members of NCIS. She takes a deep breathe. In Ziva's mind, she's conflicted. She knows there's no turning back due to the fact of Gibbs knowing who her friends are and that he definitely knows she lied to him about knowing Amir. The overwhelming feeling of fear quickly takes over. Everything she's worked for is in jeopardy of being lost due what she thinks Gibbs will most likely think as being an unforgivable action. The action wasn't intentional, but since it still happened, is it forgivable even in knowing they were mislead about the job they were being paid for from the very beginning. Ziva recalls the conversation with the man who hired her and her team. She grows angry at herself for not being able to recognize the man was lying about the job. The action which was committed, lead Ziva away from the guys she felt as being family. It wasn't just her family she lost; it was a piece of who she was and wishes to be again, a piece of herself which she'll never get back. The pursuit of finding herself again is what led her to work with NCIS. Working with NCIS is a silent way of being able to seek forgiveness in her own soul. She wants to confront Gibbs and tell him what happened. The only problem is; she's never been so scared in her entire life.

Ziva turns around and walks back to the guys.

Gibbs, who has been watching Ziva just standing in the middle of everything for the passed three minutes, shakes his head in disappointment. In Gibbs' mind, he knew Ziva lied to him about what was said during her interrogation of Amir a couple weeks ago. His suspicions of Ziva knowing Amir and also stealing all record that the interrogation ever took place are now official. In seeing Ziva knows the people who helped rescue them all, he wants justice for the incident which happened a couple years ago. But at the same time, he's conflicted and wondering what role Ziva played, if any. Gibbs decides to not confront Ziva; to allow her to come to him and explain herself. The only problem is; the side of him which seeks justice is the side which may not want to hear what Ziva has to say and may not care to. All Gibbs really knows is that in his heart, he loves Ziva being part of the team and that he's actually scared of possibly losing her. But if it comes to Ziva being arrested, he'll personally be the one to do so.

"Gibbs…" Tony tries to get his attention as Chioke begins to stretch upon waking up from sleeping in Tony's lap. Gibbs looks to him. "Can you hand me some food, please?"

Gibbs opens the bag which lies near him. He takes some food out and hands it to Tony. Chioke rubs his eyes and tries to adjust them. Upon seeing Tony more clearly, he smiles. A ray of sunlight shines on Chioke's face. Tony smiles back as he looks down at his innocent little angel. Tony's face actually hurts from smiling. But the pain of smiling for Chioke is a pain worth going through. Tony raises his right arm in order to help Chioke sit up. Chioke wiggles a bit in order to sit upright from his sleeping position. Suddenly, Chioke's smile disappears.

'Does face hurt?' Chioke signed with his hands out of concern for how his father is feeling; especially with such a battered face.

"Daddy may be a little hurt, but don't worry about it." Tony tells him a half truth because he doesn't want Chioke worrying about the massive amount of pain he feels on certain parts of his body. Tony is more concerned about Chioke's well-being than his own anyway. He brings his left hand closer in order to give Chioke the food. With his little hands, Chioke takes the food and starts munching on it. Tony smiles hurtfully. After taking a couple bites of the food, Chioke holds it up toward Tony's mouth. He presses it against Tony's mouth because he wants him to eat as well. Tony opens his mouth and takes a bite. Chioke continues munching and sharing the food with his father.

Upon finishing the food, Chioke wiggles out of Tony's lap. He walks to the bag which has food in it. The bag is opened and Chioke picks through it.

"You still hungry, Chioke?" Tony wondered. Chioke turns to face him.

'I give food to friends.' Chioke signed with his hands. He turns back to the bag and grabs a couple things. Chioke walks away with the food in his arms.

Tony smiles as he watches Chioke walk toward the nine people who were captives at the trading camp. The smile comes from how proud he is of Chioke's continuous kindness toward everybody.

After giving the others food and sitting with them for a little while, Chioke returns to Tony. He climbs into Tony's lap.

"I'm very proud you, Chioke." Tony stated. He kisses Chioke on the forehead.

'What will happen to friends?' Chioke signed with his hands.

"We'll make sure they get back home to their loved ones."

'You promise?'

"I promise." Tony said with a smile. "And as for you… When we get home, I promise we'll have some pizza and listen to the Llama Song."

Chioke claps his hands in excitement.

"Llama Song?" Gibbs wondered.

"It's a very catchy flash animation song which you can find on the internet." Tony replied. "Chioke likes to dance to it."

'It my favorite song.' Chioke signed with his hands. 'That and Magnum song.'

"He means the second version of the Magnum P.I. theme song." Tony said. "Show Grandpa Gibbs your dance."

Chioke slides off Tony's lap. Tony begins whistling the Magnum P.I. theme song. As Tony whistles the theme song, Chioke dances by moving his body and swinging his arms. Gibbs smiles as Chioke takes hold of his hands. Gibbs forgets the pain of his battered body and dances with Chioke.

From where Ziva sits with her friends, she watches the three of them. Ziva cracks a smile as she's glad to see the three of them being their normal selves. It amazes her how quickly a child can bring out the kid in Gibbs. She now looks directly at Tony. Though Ziva only sees the left side of Tony's battered face, she can tell from his expression just how much Chioke means to him. She looks back to Chioke who is still dancing with Gibbs. Ziva looks down slightly as she feels something inside of her which she's never felt before. Ziva's unclear as to what the feeling is, but she's sure it's good. She smiles and continues to watch the three of them.


	13. Chapter 13

**Chapter 13**

A couple vehicles drive down the dirt road to the trading camp. Five vehicles in total are on route to the trading camp for a surprise visit. The vehicles are parked and the people exit. No one comes to greet them. They all look around. A man shouts an order. The people arm themselves and disperse. The trading camp is searched.

A yell is heard, coming from the far side of the camp. Everyone runs in the direction. As they approach, they're eyes widen. On the far side of the camp, where the men now stand, is something which makes them all feel uncomfortable and somewhat scared. They know the rebels are against the slave trade, but what lies before them is unconventional by the rebel's standards. Three of the men turn, lean over and vomit. Two of the men start blaming a demon of some sort.

From the trees, every Korean who was in the trading camp at the time of the raid is hanging upside-down. Each of the victims is skinned and/or mutilated to the point of being beyond recognition. The horrific nature of this brutal act is to send a message to the Korean government.

Meanwhile, deep in the forest of North Korea, the rescuers and rescued people continue on their journey to the southern boarder. The captives and the NCIS team remain in a single area while each of Ziva's crew remains at a distance in each direction. Yair is to the east of the group. Seth is to the west of the group. Jael is to the south of the group. Seff is to the north of the group. And Ziva is walking with the group. From all sides, the group is protected by highly trained assassins.

After an hour, the group is now moving through a rocky area. From the back of the group, Gibbs keeps an eye on Ziva who is in the front. As Gibbs walks by a large rock, he's grabbed and pulled behind it as a knife is pressing against his neck. The person holding the neck to Gibbs' neck is behind him.

"Let's get one thing straight…" Yair begins to say. He speaks in English so Gibbs can understand. "I don't trust you. You can pursue us to hell and back cause of what we did. But realize this… Your own government didn't come to rescue you. We did. And if during our time together, you cross any of this crew… I'll kill you myself." The knife is withdrawn, away from Gibbs' neck.

Gibbs turns around. No one is there. He moves forward to look around the rock. Gibbs looks in all directions. Yair is gone without a trace.

Gibbs returns to the back of the group where Tony is carrying Chioke. Gibbs smiles as he looks at Chioke's face as his head is resting on Tony's shoulder. Chioke's eyes are closed as he's sleeping.

"How are you holding up, Tony?" Gibbs wondered.

"I have no idea how a woman can carry a child for nine months." Tony responded. "My back is killing me."

"You've been carrying him for three hours. Let me take him for a while."

Tony hands Chioke off to Gibbs. Chioke, who is really tired, wakes up slightly while his being handed off. His eyes remain closed. He wraps his right arm around Gibbs' neck, places his head on Gibbs' right shoulder and his left arm is dangling to the side. Chioke goes back to sleep while now in Gibbs' arms.

"You know… When you actually watch Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom, specifically the scene where he gets whipped…" Tony begins to say. "Movies really under-exaggerate the amount of pain it makes you feel." He said. "Though, I guess it doesn't help when the wounds won't heal properly because you keep getting beat for another week." He pauses for a couple seconds. "As soon as we get home, I'm going to find a counselor for Chioke."

"I'm proud of you, Tony." Gibbs stated. "You realize this experience has most likely been traumatic for him."

"Things may seem fine at the moment, and I want it to stay that way." Tony said. "I now understand why you have Jamie wearing about ten GPS trackers." He laughed.

"Mr. DiNozzo is becoming overprotective, I see."

"Well… Mr. Gibbs was overprotective way before me."

"Mr. DiNozzo is whipped."

"Mr. Gibbs is stubborn."

"Mr. DiNozzo is allowed to call me dad now, if he wants."

"Really?!" Tony turns to look at Gibbs. He's excited about finally being able to call, Dad, as son-in-laws usually do.

"No, not really…" Gibbs shakes his head as he chuckles. "Mr. DiNozzo is gullible."

"Mr. Gibbs is a manipulative, grumpy old man with gray hair."

As they continue walking, the two of them make fun of each other for a couple more minutes.

Sometime in the evening, as the sun is setting, the group stops to rest in a rocky area as that's what they been walking through for hours. The four members of Ziva's crew are scouting the surrounding area. Gibbs walks in Ziva's direction. Ziva is reassembling her weapon after cleaning it. Gibbs is approaching her from behind. He hopes to finally get some answers from her.

"I know what you're going to say, Gibbs." Ziva said as she continues reassembling her weapon.

"I've been waiting for you to come over and explain…" Gibbs begins to say.

"You've been spending a lot of time up in MTAC lately." Ziva said as she continues to not make eye contact with him and keeps doing what she's working on. "Ever since Amir was brought to NCIS Headquarters, I knew you were assigned to apprehend these guys."

"So now that I know, there's no point in lying to me about not knowing Amir."

"Yes, I knew Amir." Ziva stated in frustration.

"These guys are responsible for the assassination of two NCIS teams; eight agents in total."

"I know."

"How do you know?" Gibbs demanded an answer. Ziva finally looks up at him.

"Cause I lead them in those assassinations."

Gibbs is speechless. He didn't expect the answer to be this bad.

"You knew by coming here with these people your secret would be revealed to me. You knew the risk." Gibbs said. "So why did you come?"

Ziva looks to the side. She looks at Tony and Chioke are sitting near a rock not too far away, but far enough to not hear anything which is said. Ziva cracks a smile.

"I did it for them." Ziva stated with sincerity. She finally turns her head in Gibbs' direction. She looks into Gibbs' eyes. Gibbs can see the sincerity in her eyes. Her face turns away as she feels ashamed. Ziva looks at Tony and Chioke. "You ask me why I did it… I did it for them." Ziva repeats herself as she feels her emotions trying to break free of her holding them back. She watches as it appears Tony and Chioke are having a good time as Tony is tickling him. "I did it for the love of a child." Ziva cracks a smile as she continues to watch them.

Ziva takes a quick glimpse at Gibbs. From the expression on Gibbs' face, Ziva feels he doesn't want to hear her explanation about the incident or the misleading factor which resulted in the mistake. With thinking her explanation will be worthless, Ziva stands and walks away. Gibbs, who doesn't know what to say, just watches her.


	14. Chapter 14

**Wednesday**

**Chapter 14**

The group finally reaches the end to the rocky area which they entered into the previous day. The amount of rocks become less and less as they continue moving. They hear the sound of running water. The nine people who were captives become excited over hearing water because they're thirsty. Everyone is thirsty but they remain to the side behind some rocks while Ziva's crew checks and secures the area.

There's a small cliff where a running stream flows down. The cliff is just over fifteen feet high. The small waterfall it creates lands in a lake. The lake is large in size compared, but small at the same time when compared to the average lake size. The perimeter of the lake is protected by its rocky surroundings which cover about seventy-five percent of the area along the sides. The other twenty-five percent is an area clear of rocks and in which a camp is setup. The camp is on the other side of the lake from where the group is near the waterfall. Ziva uses the binoculars to get a closer look at the small camp. She sees the people in the camp are soldiers and heavily armed. Ziva cracks a smile at the sight of a vehicle they can use. She turns to her companions and starts speaking in Hebrew to them.

"Yair, Jael and Seth… Circle around… Come in from each direction. Seff, stay here and cover us with the sniper rifle." Ziva ordered. "Neutralize all hostile targets. The objective is to acquire the truck."

"What will you do?" Jael asked.

"I'm going for a swim." Ziva stated.

The three of them leave. Seff opens the bag with the sniper rifle and starts putting it together. Ziva prepares to get in the water. The important equipment Ziva needs is placed into a plastic bag which is sealed to be airtight.

After a couple minutes, Seff is in position near the water's edge. He's kneeling behind two rocks. The barrel of the sniper rifle is resting on the bottom of the 'v' shape as the rocks meet. Seff keeps an eye on the camp from his position.

Ziva runs to the waterfall and uses the falling water to cover her as she enters into the lake. She moves along the edge of the water. A thin bamboo stick is poking out of the water because Ziva is using it for air so she can breathe while under the surface of the mucky water.

After a couple minutes, Ziva is under the dock. She slowly pops her head out of the water. Seff watches her through the sniper scope. Ziva hears footsteps as two soldiers are walking on the dock.

Ziva takes the airtight plastic bag off from around her waist. She swims to the edge of the water under the dock. The bag is opened. Ziva puts an earwig in her ear. From the bag, she takes out the handgun with the attached silencer. Ziva places the gun across her mouth and bites down in order to hold it above the surface of the water so it doesn't get wet. She moves further out into the water while staying under the dock. The two soldiers are standing close to the end of the dock.

Both of the soldiers start taking their clothes off. Seff tells Ziva what's going on. Ziva moves toward the boat and quietly slips her silencer handgun under the boat cover. The soldiers continue to get undressed. Ziva places a knife across her mouth and bites down on it. She takes hold of another knife from her waist. The soldiers each strip down to a pair of shorts. Ziva lifts her left arm out of the water. She places her hand onto a board of wood above her head, under the dock. She uses her strength to lift herself. Ziva places her feet against the support beam for leverage.

One soldier jumps in. Seconds later, the other soldier does the same. Ziva holds a knife in her right hand, ready to be thrown. The second knife is still being held across her mouth. The first soldier pops his head out of the water. The knife is thrown and immediately penetrates into the soldier's head; killing him instantly. Ziva uses her feet and legs to push away from the support beam. She moves swiftly under the water. The second soldier's head finally pops out of the water. He looks around. His friend is nowhere to be seen. Suddenly, the soldier feels something and is pulled under.

Ziva finally pops her head out while once again under the dock. The two soldiers who went for a swim are now dead and tied under the water to a support beam. Ziva moves toward the boat. Her hand moves under the boat cover and grabs the silencer handgun. The other three members of Ziva's crew move in from their positions.

Ziva moves out from under the dock. She runs to the truck. Ziva gets on the ground and rolls under it. There's a soldier on the other side. Since no one is around other than this one soldier, Ziva quietly slides out behind the man who is smoking a cigarette. The soldier turns around. A knife is quickly thrust up into the man's jaw; upward into his head and forcing his mouth shut while he dies. The soldier is quickly dragged under the truck. Dirt is brushed out from under the truck to cover the blood. With the remaining specks, Ziva's hand comes out from under the truck. Dirt is sprinkled on the last of the visible blood.

Ziva slides out from under the truck. She runs to a building and takes a quick peek around it. There's a soldier on the other side; near a door. Ziva holds a knife in one hand and the silencer handgun in the other. She rounds the corner of the building.

The knife is thrown into the soldier's chest and double tapped in the head. Ziva grabs the soldier before he falls. She kicks the door in to the building, aims the silencer handgun and triple taps the soldiers inside, in the heart. Ziva pulls the outside soldier into the building. She lays him on the floor. Ziva leaves the building and closes the door behind her; leaving two dead bodies inside.

Ziva quietly sneaks inside a building where she hears laughter. Three soldiers are sitting around playing a game of cards. One soldier stands and walks to a refrigerator around the corner, close to where Ziva is. The freezer door is opened. From the other side of the freezer door, Ziva approaches. She moves behind the man. Ziva grabs his head. The soldier's neck is snapped. He's placed gently on the floor to not make a sound which would alert the other two. As Ziva approaches the corner, another soldier enters. The three men start greeting each other in the Korean language.

Ziva hears one of the men walking in her direction. As the soldier rounds the corner, his neck is sliced. Blood gushes out. Ziva rounds the corner. A knife is thrown into the head of one man as the other is shot; triple tapped in the heart and double tapped in the head. Both soldiers drop to the floor. In a matter of seconds, the three soldiers were taken out swiftly and quietly.

Ziva opens the door to the building and steps out cautiously. A gun is pointed at her head. She hears the click of the gun being cocked.

"You're getting sloppy, Ziva." Yair said.

"Ha!" Ziva laughed. "You would've never gotten the shot off in time."

Yair begins to pull the trigger. Ziva makes a swift move. Suddenly, Yair's head is pressing against the building. The hand which was holding the gun is twisted behind his back. Ziva is pointing Yair's own gun to his head.

"Very good, Ziva." Yair complimented her.

"I still got it, Yair." Ziva stated. She lets him go. "Besides, your gun isn't even loaded."

"And what makes you so sure?"

"Cause this is your custom modified gun. When cocked and it has a bullet ready, it makes a very low ping sound. Not noticeable if you haven't heard it before."

"Maybe I got it fixed since then."

Ziva quickly points the gun to Yair's stomach and pulls the trigger. Nothing happens.

"Told you." Ziva said. "I know you too well to know you never got it fixed." She grins. Yair chuckles slightly.

Ziva and Yair walk away. They walk to an area where they can see the waterfall. They both wave. Seff sees them and disarms the sniper rifle. He motions to the group its safe to drink from the waterfall now; the lake is mucky, but the water from the waterfall is crystal clear. After drinking enough water, the group follows Seff to the camp.

After a couple minutes, everyone is in the camp.

"Seth, Seff…" Ziva tries to get their attention. She takes out a map. They walk over to her. "The camp has one vehicle which can fit eleven people. I want both of you to take the nine captives and follow this route…" She points to the map. "…To the southern boarder." She finished the sentence as Seth takes the map from her hand. "We'll travel faster without the malnourished ones."

Yair starts speaking to all of the captives; in each of their ethnic languages so they can understand what's going on. The nine captives start climbing into the back of the truck. The woman who helped Chioke when he was hungry and cold is standing near the truck, ready to get in. She turns to look at Chioke who is being held in Tony's arms. The woman smiles at him. Chioke squirms in Tony's arm unto he's set down on the ground. Chioke runs to the woman and gives her a quick hug. She hugs him back and kisses him on the head. The woman backs away, turns to the truck and gets inside. Chioke stands there waving to them all. The truck doors finally close. Seff gets in the passenger seat. Seth gets in the driver's seat. The engine is started. The truck moves. It drives down the dirt road. Eventually, the truck is out of the remaining peoples view.

The remaining people left to walk to the southern boarder, consists of: Ziva, Yair, Jael, Gibbs, Tony and Chioke. The six of them have to bear through the dense, rugged North Korean terrain in order to reach the southern boarder.


	15. Chapter 15

**Chapter 15**

There's a knock on the door of the DiNozzo residence. Jamie walks to the door and opens it. On the other side is Abby who is holding up two bags.

"I brought Chinese." Abby said cheerfully. She barges passed Jamie; into the apartment.

"How can you be so cheerful at a time like this, Abs?" Jamie wondered.

"Cause if I don't have the faith in them still being alive, then…" Abby looks down as she can't even finish the sentence due to not wanting to allow the thought cross her mind.

"Thanks for coming, Abs." Jamie finally closes the door and locks it. "I really need a friend right now."

Abby wraps one of her arms around Jamie's shoulders and pulls her a bit closer. The two of them walk away from the door; toward the family room. Jamie is able to smell the food. A rumbling sound comes from her stomach.

"Sounds like someone is hungry." Abby said.

"I haven't eaten all day." Jamie stated. The two of them finally sit down on the couch. "I'm just so worried about the boys."

"I'm sure Ziva's sudden disappearance is because she went to rescue them."

"Ziva is just one person. What can she possibly do?"

"I've learned Ziva can be very surprising with her abilities. She'll rescue them."

Suddenly, there's a sound like a key is trying to unlock the door. Jamie's eyes widen in excitement. An overwhelming feeling of happiness takes over. She runs to the door as quickly as humanly possible. The door is opened. Jamie's excitement quickly dies as she sees a drunken man on the other side.

"Did you…" The drunken man paused as he feels groggy. "…Change the lock on me, babes?" He finished.

"Your apartment is down the hall Mr. Peterson." Jamie said.

"Oh dear..."

"Let me help you, Mr. Peterson."

"I don't need help." He turns and starts walking away. "I can…" He finally falls to the floor after taking a couple steps.

Jamie leaves the apartment and helps Mr. Peterson down the hall. Abby remains in the apartment and sets the coffee table for dinner by grabbing a few things from the kitchen. After having everything ready, Abby sits on the couch and looks to the side where a three hundred gallon fish tank is stationed. Inside the fish tank is Chioke's pet lobster; Simba.

Jamie re-enters into the apartment. She closes the door, locks it and walks into the family room. She sits on the couch; between Abby and the fish tank.

"Simba has gotten big since the last time you saw him." Jamie said.

"Only you two were strange enough to have a pet lobster." Abby laughed.

"Me and Tony wanted to eat it."

"And Chioke wanted to keep it."

"Of course we caved." Jamie said. "There's no resisting Chioke no matter how hard you try. He's got the sad puppy dog face perfected."

"And he doesn't even have to try." Abby added.

There's a brief pause of silence as Jamie looks to the right; into the fish tank. Upon looking at Simba, she sighs. Abby places her hand gently onto Jamie's leg.

"I'm sure they're doing just fine." Abby tries to assure her.

"You're probably right." Jamie tries to think positively. "The boys are fine."

Meanwhile, on the other side of the world in the dense forest of North Korea, a fierce gunfight is underway.

"Stay behind me." DiNozzo said as he guides Chioke behind him. Chioke, who is shivering due to being scared, moves behind Tony.

Tony, with Chioke behind him, is standing near an earthed tree. As Tony fires his assault rifle at the enemy he moves backward in little steps. Chioke does the same. Gibbs stands next to Tony to help shield Chioke from what's going on. The three of them move backward toward the unearthed tree for cover.

Ziva and Yair are going around killing as many Korean soldiers as they possibly can while Tony and Gibbs are protecting Chioke near the unearthed tree. Jael is hiding in a tree and armed with the sniper rifle that has the attached silencer. Jael's camouflage blends into the tree's texture with perfection. In order to not be seen, his movements are slow but his aim is quick. The precision of his shot is with such perfection. Jael snipes as many enemies as he possibly can.

Ziva and Yair use their stealthy assassin training to slip passed all of the Korean defenses undetected. They start to eliminate the enemy from behind.

As Ziva and the other two do their jobs, Tony, Gibbs and Chioke are trapped near the unearthed tree. There's no direction they can move. Chioke is sitting in the hole of where the tree used to be. His hands are covering his ears and his eyes are closed. Tony and Gibbs are also in the hole. The two of them are fighting positions; one knee and one foot on the ground. Both are holding assault rifles and shooting at whoever comes into view that poses a threat.

The enemy is finally finalized. Ziva runs to the unearthed tree.

"We have to get moving right now!" Ziva exclaimed.

"What's wrong?" Tony wondered.

"They were army, but not regular army." Yair stated as he approaches.

"I didn't think any of you could actually speak English." Tony said. "Thanks for the rescue." He extends his hand in order to express his gratitude by shaking Yair's hand. Gibbs quickly smacks Tony's hand down as he doesn't want him touching the assassin. Gibbs and Yair stare each other down. Tony is left confused because he doesn't actually know who these people are.

"What part of get moving do you not understand?!" Ziva exclaimed. "The hill will be swarming with the Korean army soon." The six of them run to the west. They're running up a hill. "Stop…" Ziva motions for everyone to slow down. "On the other side of this hill is a heavily guarded mansion. It must the home of some political figure. It's not as heavily guarded anymore because we killed the majority…"

"Those were just mansion guards." Tony acknowledged he knows what Ziva is talking about.

"Yair, Jael… Scope it out. Our objective is the Hummer." Ziva ordered. The two of them leave. Ziva, Tony, Gibbs and Chioke remain where they are. Ziva, who has the sniper rifle, moves to the side and up the remainder of the hill. She lies on top of the hill. Ziva aims the sniper rifle with attached silencer and begins sniping the people around the mansion.

Tony, Gibbs and Chioke are left to talk among themselves as Ziva and her two crew members try to secure the mansion of any possible threats. Chioke is next to Tony.

'I want to go home.' Chioke signed with his hands and also with a sad facial expression.

"We'll be home soon." Tony tries to assure him.

'I miss mommy.'

"I know you do. I miss Jamie too."

Suddenly, from Ziva's position on the hill, she sees a couple vehicles driving down the long road to get to the mansion. She moves her position and aim the sniper rifle in their direction. The vehicles are directly in line with her position. Due to the distance and speed of the vehicles, Ziva isn't aiming directly at the driver of the first vehicle. She's aiming somewhat in front. Her finger brushes against the trigger. Ziva's plan is to snipe the driver of the first vehicle in such a way that he'll swerve to the right, hit the tree she wants him to hit and the back of the vehicle slides into the road; blocking the other vehicles and giving them more time. She only has one chance to do this. The trigger is pulled. The bullet goes racing through the air in the direction of the first vehicle as it continues moving forward.

Finally, there's a crack through the windshield. The driver's chest starts bleeding. His body falls slightly toward the right; forcing his hands to also move in that direction. The vehicle swerves the right and hits a tree. The back end of the vehicle slides into the road. The second vehicle slams into the right side of the first. Ziva has bought them more time. She stands and looks to her coworkers.

"Get moving! We have to leave now!" Ziva exclaimed as she runs toward them and grabs a bag. Tony, Gibbs and Chioke stand up and grab what they can. The four of them run up the remainder of the hill. They move over the hill and are now running down the hill, in clear view of the mansion. Ziva catches a glimpse of two armed guards aiming their weapons. She stops, kneels, aims the sniper rifle and fires the first shot. She aims to the left and fires a second shot. Both guards hit the ground. Ziva stands and continues running down the hill.

Once down the hill, the four of them run across the barren field. Ziva keeps an eye on the small building to their right as they're approaching the mansion. The door to the small building opens as Ziva is passing it. She's quickly grabbed by the large, quite muscular man who came out. The sniper rifle falls to the ground after dropping from Ziva's hand. Tony, Gibbs and Chioke don't see this as Ziva is behind them. Ziva is left alone to fend for herself against a man who is almost three times her size.

The man slams Ziva against the building. He punches her in the stomach. Ziva falls to the ground and is gasping for breath. The man drags Ziva inside the building and closes the door.

Inside the building, Ziva flies in the air and lands on the wooden table. Upon impact, the table breaks. Ziva lays on top of the broken table as the large man approaches her. She rolls onto her stomach. Ziva grabs a piece of wood from under her and waits. The man finally takes hold of Ziva's left foot. Ziva's right foot immediately cracks against the man's face as she turns her body to the left. After receiving the blow from the foot, the piece of wood Ziva grabbed from under herself smacks against the man's head and breaks. Ziva somersaults away from the man, over the broken table pieces. When she finally stands and turns to face the man, she's now holding two table legs. The man takes out a knife and grabs a table leg from the floor. Ziva and the man stare each other down. The taller, more muscular man smiles with confidence.

The man charges toward Ziva and swings the knife at her. Ziva blocks the swing with the table leg. She crouches down to dodge the swing of the table leg. Ziva smacks her table legs against the man's legs and stomach area a couple times. With quickness and before the man swings one of the weapon at her, Ziva jolts up with a spin and cracks a table leg against the man's face. Ziva spins to the face the man and holds the table legs in fighting position. The man quickly shakes it off and glares at her. Ziva just smiles.

A second attack commences. The table legs and knife clash as both of them try to hit each other. After thirty seconds, the man's table leg smacks against Ziva's leg. Due to the blow, Ziva stumbles slightly. The knife is now swung. The blade cuts Ziva's chest directly above her left breast. The table leg slams into Ziva's right side. She falls to the floor. Blood drips from her slash wound. She has an expression of pain upon her face.

"I don't have time for this bullshit." Ziva said as she kicks the approaching man in the shin. She jolts upward; smacking the man in the face with both table legs. The man's knife drops from his hand due to the force of the blow received. After administering the blow, the man stumbles slightly and Ziva reaches for a concealed knife at her waist. With the knife in hand, the man grabs Ziva's wrist. With his other hand, he grabs Ziva by the neck and pulls her closer. "You probably can't understand me, but sometimes it's not about the visible weapon you need to be concerned about." A small blade extends from Ziva's boot. The blade of the boot is plunged into the man's crotch. He lets go of her. The knife in Ziva's left hand slashes the man's throat. "It's not smart to underestimate your opponent." She stated as the man falls to the floor. The man bleeds to death. She hears the honking of a horn. Ziva exits the building. Upon running toward the Hummer, she grabs her sniper rifle. With approaching the Hummer, the driver's side door opens. Yair moves over; letting Ziva drive.

The back tires kick up dirt as Ziva floors the accelerator pedal. The Hummer speeds toward the back road. The army vehicles, which Ziva was able to prolong by creating a road block before, are now approaching the mansion.

"We're screwed." Tony stated as he look back toward the mansion.

"Not quite." Yair said as he holds up a transmitter device. From the passenger seat, he watches the army vehicles drive around the mansion. He finally presses a button. The mansion explodes. Due to the force of the explosion, all of the army vehicles are thrown away as debris disperses. The vehicles themselves have either exploded or caught on fire.

No vehicle is left undamaged. The mansion and all of the army vehicles are left burning as the Hummer continues speeding down the back road. The vehicles are completely destroyed and all soldiers are dead.

"You guys are good." Tony said.

"He doesn't deserve praise, DiNozzo." Gibbs said in somewhat of a snippy tone of voice.

Gibbs and Yair stare each down again. Tony notices the expression on both of their faces and decides to not say a word, as if there's major tension between the two. Tony just looks away and pays full attention to Chioke who is sitting next to him.

The Hummer continues down the long dirt road.


	16. Chapter 16

**Chapter 16**

On the dirt roads in the middle of nowhere in North Korea, the Hummer continues moving south toward the boarder in order to reach South Korea. They drive in the vast forest on the dirt roads where there are no signs of life to be found; except wildlife.

While driving the Hummer, Ziva tries to conceal her knife wound by turning her body slightly to the left in order to keep the blood out of view. She also tries to conceal the pain from being expressed upon her face. Ziva looks down and to the left. The left side of her shirt and jacket are stained with blood. Enough blood has been lost that it's actually dripping off the left side of the driver's seat. Ziva is slightly weakened by the loss of blood, but her pride gets the best of her so she says nothing.

Close to dusk, the Hummer continues speeding down the long, straight dirt road; heading south. Ziva's eyes start to blur. The road becomes fuzzy in her eyes. Ziva's breathing is decreased from its normal rhythm and she feels lightheaded. The Hummer swerves to the left. Yair quickly grabs hold of the steering wheel. Ziva finally passes out and her head hits the driver's side window.

"Ziva!" Yair yelled in concern. He scoots over from the passenger seat and presses his foot to the brake pedal. The vehicle finally comes to a halt.

Jael steps out and runs around the Hummer to the driver's side. Yair gently pulls Ziva toward the passenger side. Jael opens the driver's side door and gets inside. Yair lays Ziva in his lap and applies pressure to her wound. Jael presses on the accelerator pedal. The vehicle moves away from the dirt road. The Hummer is driven behind a hill.

Ziva is carefully taken out of the vehicle by Yair and Jael. Gibbs, Tony and Chioke are standing nearby. Yair speaks to Jael in Hebrew; his order is to make the tire tracks leading into the forest vanish. Jael runs away from the area in order to do his job of concealing the tire tracks. Yair looks to Gibbs.

"Help me." Yair said. Gibbs is hesitant for a couple seconds. But he caves and kneels down close to Ziva in order to help.

"What's going on?" Ziva said as she's having a hard time keeping her eyes open.

"Hold her down." Yair stated.

"Tony, get over here." Gibbs ordered. Tony kneels near Ziva. Chioke is left standing there, just watching.

Yair rips Ziva's shirt open to expose her chest. Tony and Gibbs hold Ziva down. Chioke remains watching. Blood from Ziva' knife wound continues to trickle out. Yair wipes the blood away. Gibbs notices Tony is staring at Ziva's breasts. Gibb smacks Tony on the back of the head.

"Old habits die hard, Boss." Tony said. "Sorry." He looks away.

Yair examines the wound for a couple seconds.

"I have to burn it." Yair stated. He takes out a knife and a lighter. The lighter is used to heat the knife.

After a couple minutes, the knife is heated up enough. Gibbs and Tony hold Ziva down tightly. The heated knife is placed toward Ziva's wound. Yair touches the knife to the bleeding wound. There's a look of pain on Ziva's face as she feels it. The wound is burned to stop the bleeding.

"We'll rest here until morning." Yair stated.

Later in the night, Ziva's eyes open. Ziva's head lies in Yair lap as he's stroking her hair. Jael is sitting nearby. They talk in Hebrew to each other.

"How do you feel?" Jael asked.

"A little weak…" Ziva replied.

"You gave us quite a scare." Yair said. Ziva lifts her hand toward Yair's face.

"You're not going to get all mushy on me, are you?" Ziva wondered smacks him with the back of her hand in the playful manner.

"I guess not." Yair smiles down at her.

"You should've told us about the knife wound." Jael said.

"I know." Ziva agreed.

"You truly care for your coworkers." Yair said. "I can tell."

"Cause I would've immediately told you about my wound, I know." Ziva said. "I need to get them out of here, Yair. I may not fully understand why I feel the need to get them to safety…"

"You're loyal, Ziva. You always have been and always will be. No matter what team you're a part of." Jael stated. Ziva's head turns. She looks to where her coworkers are. Even though there's not much light, only that of the moon, Ziva looks at Chioke lying in Tony's lap. She smiles has the moonlight shines down on them.

"Jael... Can we have a minute?" Yair asked. Jael stands and walks away. Yair and Ziva are now alone. "What Jael said is true. But there's more. Something only I know about."

"They were slaughtered, Yair." Ziva said. "Every time I look at Chioke…"

"You think of Isaac, I know." Yair said in acknowledgement of what Ziva is talking about.

"You're the only one who knows of Isaac."

"How can I not? You and my brother created him."

"The other day, when I was going to go talk to my boss…"

"You mean the time you choked, turned back and ended up not talking to him."

"Yes, that time." Ziva chuckled slightly. "I felt something I never felt before. I didn't know what it was at the time. But I think I know now."

"You want to be a mother again? For real this time…"

"I think so, yes." Ziva said with a smile as she watches Chioke sleeping in Tony's lap. "Isaac wasn't planned. He just happened. But this time is different. I actually want it."

"Do you feel guilty for leaving them, Ziva?"

"Yes… I just wasn't ready for motherhood."

"He never blamed you for walking out, Ziva. My brother understood why you left."

"I was scared… Scared of the thought of marriage and being a mother. So I left. I abandoned my own child."

"My brother never stopped loving you. He prayed that one day you would return."

"When I did… It was too late. I returned to a burning home." Ziva's eyes become watery. A couple tears roll down her face. "I couldn't save my child. But I'm as hell going to save Tony's."

Yair continues to stroke Ziva's hair as she lies there watching Tony and Chioke in the moonlight. Ziva smiles as she remembers the man she once loved and the child they had together, the child she left behind.


	17. Chapter 17

**Thursday**

**Chapter 17**

The Hummer is speeding down a long dirt road in the direction of the southern boarder of North Korea. Ziva is driving. Yair is in the passenger seat. Jael, Gibbs, Tony and Chioke are in the back. A couple vehicles, which belong to the North Korean army, are speeding after the escaping Hummer.

One of the army vehicles slams into the left side of the Hummer as another vehicle slams into the right side creating a Hummer sandwich. A man from each of the army vehicles pops out. The two vehicles move away from the Hummer, yet remain in line with it.

"They have rocket launchers!" Tony exclaimed. Chioke holds onto Tony as tightly as he can because he's scared.

"Hold on!" Ziva shouted. She stomps her foot to the brake pedal.

The Hummer's speed decreases. The two army vehicles continue moving forward. A rocket launches from each side of the road. The rockets project away from the vehicle it was launched from and races toward the opposing vehicle. The vehicle on the right side flips off the road because the rocket landed close to the bottom. The vehicle on the left side slides into the middle of the road because the rocket hit the back as the driver was steering toward the right. Ziva presses on the gas pedal. The front of the Hummer rams into the piece of the dead vehicle sliding into the middle of the road. The vehicle is forced to the side as Ziva quickly regains control after the impact.

One of the remaining five army vehicle slams into the vehicle the Hummer hit a couple seconds ago. The vehicle flips over. The four remaining army vehicles continue their pursuit of the Hummer.

A couple miles away the dirt road leads to a gate at the southern boarder of North Korea. Guards are already on high alert at the gate. The gate isn't as heavily guarded as most because the road is hardly traveled.

Some time passes.

The Hummer drives over a hill as it continues speeding down the dirt road toward the southern gate. The guards at the gate prepare their weapons.

One vehicle speeds to the right side of the Hummer. Ziva quickly turns the steering wheel to the right. The vehicle is bumped. The driver loses control and slams into a tree. Only three army vehicles are still following the Hummer. Ziva's eyes fixate on the gate area up ahead.

In front of the gate, off to the side of the road is a broke down vehicle which is almost completely buried by dirt. Ziva's eyes locate this mound as she continues to analyze the upcoming area.

"You guys better be here." Ziva said softly to herself as she sees the gate guards preparing their weapons. She presses on the gas pedal even harder; flooring it.

The Hummer enters into the vicinity of the gate. The gate guards aim their weapons at the Hummer. Three army vehicles continue to follow down the road, toward the gate. Ziva steers the Hummer in line with the mound of dirt in front which buries a broke down vehicle.

Flash-bang grenades go off at the gate; temporarily blinding the guards. The Hummer advances to the dirt mound. Two bodies pop up from the leaves behind the dirt mound; the side facing the gate. A rocket is launched from behind the dirt mound. As the Hummer is halfway launched from the dirt mound, a hook is tossed up. The hook catches to the bottom of the Hummer. An army vehicle explodes as the rocket which was launched aimed directly at it. Another rocket is launched. As the Hummer flies in the air with a cord being pulled behind it, the second army vehicle explodes.

"Brace yourselves!" Ziva yelled as a couple more flash-bang grenades go off at the gate. The cord finally pulls something out from the leaves. It's an impact bomb with detonator buttons surrounding the explosive. The bomb is pulled through the air. Finally, the last army vehicle launches from the dirt mound.

Both vehicles float through the air toward the gate, along with the bomb being pulled by the Hummer. Everyone inside the Hummer braces themselves for impact.

The Hummer floats over the gate; with only inches to spare. The cord continues to be pulled behind it. As the Hummer continues floating through the air on the other side of the gate, the bomb is inches away from the gate. The last army which is also floating through the air is inches away from the gate as well. The bomb explodes upon impact. The army vehicle and a large portion of the gate are destroyed. Gate debris flies outward in all directions.

The end of the cord is caught in a piece of the gate. As the cord is pulled more, the piece of the Hummer it's attached to rips off. Due to the tension of the pull, there's a slight balance loss. The front of the Hummer, the left side, hits the ground. The top of the Hummer moves forward and to the left. The left side of the Hummer, the driver's side, hits the ground. The Hummer slides on the driver's side before it rolls over.

After rolling over a couple times, the Hummer finally stops. The vehicle is upside-down. The driver's side door pops open. An injured Ziva crawls out. While still inside the Hummer, Tony, who is hurting, unfastens his seatbelt. He falls to the roof of the Hummer which is pressing against the ground. Tony looks up at Chioke.

"Are you alright?" Tony asked in concern.

'Shoulder hurt.' Chioke signed with his hands.

Tony leans upward. Chioke wraps his arms around him. Tony unfastens the seatbelt. Chioke's lower portion of his body falls down, on top of Tony.

"I love you, Chioke." Tony said. "I'll never let anything bad happen to you ever again. I promise." He kisses Chioke on the forehead, remains in the upside-down Hummer and just holds him tight.

Gibbs, whose entire left side of his body is hurting since he was sitting behind the driver's seat, approaches the other side of the upside-down Hummer. The passenger door opens. Yair crawls out. He tries to stand. Gibbs grabs Yair and slams him against the Hummer. Yair swings his arm at Gibbs, but the attack is blocked. Gibbs' knee is thrust into Yair's stomach. Gibbs' fist whips into Yair's face. Yair falls back unto the Hummer. A gun is drawn. Gibbs points the gun at Yair.

"You're under arrest you piece of shit." Gibbs stated. Yair looks at Gibbs with an expression of anger.

"The last person to point a gun at me ended up with a knife in neck and three bullets in his heart." Yair said. "Unfortunately for you, I won't be taken in. Not today."

Gibbs hears the cocking of two guns behind him. Seth and Seff are there with weapons pointing at his head. Yair knocks the gun from Gibbs' hand. He kicks Gibbs in the chest; causing him to fall to the ground. Yair picks up Gibbs' weapon and points it at him. Three guns are pointing at Gibbs.

Ziva finally stands. She sees what's going on.

"Stop!" Ziva exclaimed in Hebrew. She walks around the upside-down Hummer. She continues speaking in Hebrew to her friends. "Killing him proves nothing! By killing him you're not stopping NCIS from pursuing you. He'll be replaced and you'll still be on the run. Killing him makes absolutely no difference." She approaches Yair.

"He knows you have ties to us, to the group." Yair stated in Hebrew. "The other guy doesn't. Obviously we're classified Intel. We kill him, we save you from being prosecuted."

"Yair, I know you want to protect me. I know you all want to. But I can't allow another NCIS agent to die at our hands. Especially not like this."

"Come with us, Ziva." Yair said.

"You know I can't." Ziva said in reply. "Maybe we'll bump into each other someday."

"No… We won't." Yair leans toward Ziva and kisses her on the forehead.

Seth and Seff help Jael out of the Hummer. The three men say their goodbyes to Ziva. Yair stays long enough to allow the others to vanish from the area.

"It appears the nine captive proved to be useful." Yair said in Hebrew as he looks at the approaching captives who are holding unused flash-bang grenades. Yair pulls the clip out of the gun and empties the chamber. He throws the clip away. Yair drops the gun on the ground, next to Gibbs. "Until next time, Agent Gibbs." He communicates in English for Gibbs to understand.

"I won't stop until you're behind bars." Gibbs stated as he finally stands.

"We shall see."

Yair walks away. Gibbs looks to Ziva with an expression of disappointment. Ziva looks away before eye contact is made.

"We should get going." Ziva said. "We need to get further into South Korea and out of sight of the North Korean boarder." She walks away.

Gibbs watches Ziva walk away from him. In his mind, Gibbs is slightly confused by the whole ordeal. He knows Ziva risked everything to save him, Tony and Chioke from North Korea. She exposed her darkest secret in order to save them and he doesn't know why. Many questions about loyalty, family, lies, truth and what's real bounce around through his mind. Even though he knows Ziva lead the death squad in the assassinations of eight NCIS agents in total, it confuses him. It confuses him as to why Ziva exposed the secret. It wasn't her responsibility to save them, but she did it. She did it at the risk of losing everything and she isn't running away from it. Gibbs continues to watch Ziva as she helps Tony and Chioke to get out of the Hummer.

Hours later they arrive at the airport in Seoul, South Korea. The nine captives are left in the care of South Korean officials who plan to work with the U.S. government in making sure they get back home to where they belong and were abducted from. Gibbs walks to the locker number one hundred, fifty-six. He puts the key in and unlocks it. Inside the locker is all the information Cal collected on the slave trading in North Korea. Gibbs places everything from the locker into a bag which he'll bring to the U.S. government. Even though Cal lost his life in trying to help them escape from North Korea, at least his work will make sure the slave trade is put to an end. Cal's hard work is not in vain.

Gibbs, Tony, Chioke and Ziva hop onto a plane in order to go back home. Gibbs has the window seat. Tony has the aisle seat. Chioke has the seat in the middle. Gibbs leans forward. He looks across to the opposite set of seats. Ziva has a window seat with no one sitting next to her. Gibbs can tell a few things from the expression on Ziva's face; she's worried, sad, scared and lonely. Gibbs has never seen Ziva so vulnerable before. He looks at Chioke and Tony who couldn't be happier about going back home. Chioke clings to Tony and Tony loves it. Gibbs looks over at Ziva. As Ziva's head hangs and she looks down at the floor, Gibbs can't help but feel some type of sympathy for her.

Minutes later, the plane takes off.

While in the air, Tony quickly falls asleep. Ziva sits on her side of the plane, alone by the window. She feels like an outsider now. Gibbs remains looking at Ziva and trying to figure out what to do with her; arrest her or let it slide.

Chioke, who has Tony's arm wrapped around him, looks at Gibbs. Chioke looks to the other side of the plane. He realizes Gibbs is staring at Ziva. He also realizes Ziva looks sad.

'I go make happy.' Chioke signed with his hands to Gibbs. Chioke tires to unfasten his seatbelt but is having difficulty. 'Can help work belt?'

Gibbs smiles and unfastens Chioke's seatbelt. Chioke stands up, leans forward and kisses the sleeping Tony on the forehead. Chioke walks across the aisle. He sits in the middle seat next to Ziva whose head finally moves from the depressing position of just looking downward. She looks at the smiling Chioke.

'Thank you.' Chioke signed with his hands. Ziva has a confused expression on her face as she's unsure what Chioke is trying to communicate to her.

"He said; thank you." Gibbs said loud enough for Ziva to hear.

Ziva doesn't make eye contact with Gibbs. She fixes Chioke seatbelt. Chioke leans his head against Ziva. He wraps his arm around her. Ziva does the same. Gibbs leans back and tries to go to sleep. Chioke falls asleep in Ziva's arm. Ziva remains awake; thinking of Isaac.


	18. Chapter 18

**Sunday**

**Chapter 18**

Back home at the DiNozzo residence, Jamie is sleeping on the couch in the family room. She lays there peacefully on the couch. A hand begins to gently stroke her hair. Jamie's eyes slowly open. A face smiles at her.

"Tony, is that you?" Jamie asked as she's trying to adjust her eyes to the darkness since the source of light is from the fish tank.

"Yes it's me." Tony answered. Chioke finds the light switch. The light in the room turns on. Jamie's heartbeat increases and her eyes widen from the happiness of seeing her husband.

"Tony!" Jamie exclaimed in excitement. She sits up and quickly wraps her arms around Tony's neck.

Chioke smiles from where he stands by the light switch. Tony has an expression of pain on his face as Jamie is holding him too tightly and pressing against bodily wounds acquired while trapped in North Korea. Tony plays it off and allows the pain to continue because overall, he's just happy to be home. Jamie's eyes catch a glimpse of Chioke.

"Chioke!" Jamie exclaimed in excitement. Chioke's face lights up. Jamie takes her arms off of Tony. She slides off the couch and opens her arms for Chioke to come to her. Chioke runs into Jamie's arms. Once in Jamie's arms, she gives him kiss after kiss after kiss on the forehead and cheeks. "I'm sorry I couldn't protect you. I'm sorry for not preventing this from happening. Will you ever forgive me?" Jamie pleaded. Chioke backs away from her.

'Not your fault.' Chioke signed with his hands. 'Not need to forgive. Nothing to forgive. Me love you, Mommy.'

Jamie giggles in happiness. She wraps her arms around Chioke and starts kissing him again.

"I must be a ghost because for some reason I don't exist here." Tony stated in jealousy of Chioke getting all the attention.

"Did you hear something?" Jamie asked Chioke as she backs away from him.

'I hear nothing.' Chioke signed with his hands.

"You two are hilarious." Tony said. "Come on… Show me love."

Jamie and Chioke look at each other. There's a brief moment of silence.

"I'll order a pizza." Tony stated.

"I love you!" Jamie exclaimed.

'Me love you too.' Chioke signed with his hands.

"You two only love me for my pizza ordering skills."

Jamie and Chioke both wrap their arms around Tony. The arms wrapped tightly around him are actually hurting him. There's an expression of pain on Tony's face.

"Ow…" Tony cried softly. "Being loved hurts." They two of them back away from him slightly. "Go wash up and I'll order the pizza." He said to Chioke.

'And listen to Llama Song?' Chioke signed with his hands.

"Yes..." Tony chuckled. "We'll listen to the Llama Song too."

Chioke's face lights up. He stands and runs to the bathroom. Tony and Jamie are left on the floor in front of the couch. Jamie lifts her hand toward the side of Tony's face where there's a slightly huge wound near his ear.

"I have many more you can take care of." Tony said as he shies away from Jamie's hand because he's in enough pain.

"I'll take care of you." Jamie leans forward and gently kisses Tony on the lips. She grabs onto the bottom and Tony's shirt. The shirt is slowly and gently lifted upward to Tony's shoulder. Jamie sees a massive amount of bruising on his chest and stomach. There are also some cuts and scrapes. She keeps the shirt lifted so she can look at his back. On Tony's back she sees the ten scab marks from the lashes he received from the whip. The skin of the lash marks look disgustingly gross because they were never properly treated. The surrounding area of skin around the lash marks is badly bruised skin. Jamie's heart breaks. "It looks like one of the scabs recently broke. There's a little blood and puss. I'll clean it."

There's a moment of silence as they look into each other's eyes. Suddenly, a worry quickly takes over Jamie's mind.

"Where's my dad?" Jamie asked in concern.

"Your dad is fine." Tony replied. "He'll be dropping by shortly. He had to go take care of something before coming here. But don't worry. He'll be here soon."

Jamie sighs in the relief of knowing her father is safe.

"Is Chioke alright? Does he have any injuries?" Jamie asked in concern.

"His shoulder hurts a bit. But other than that, he seems to be fine." Tony replied. "When you get a better look you'll notice he has a burn mark on his right arm… It's from a cigar. And he has two lash marks on his back… The lash marks are from a cane. Only one of the lashes broke the skin. But it's not as bad as mine."

"Oh God…" Jamie is saddened by the knowledge of what happened.

"Chioke may only be six years old… But he's the bravest person I know." Tony stated proudly. "That little body of his is filled with more courage than the entire Navy."

"It's adorable how proud you are of Chioke. It truly is."

"We're his family. You're his mother. I'm his father." Tony said. "I'll always be proud of him."

Meanwhile, in a town just outside Washington D.C., Gibbs enters into the office of Mr. Geoffrey Benson. The father of Shawn and Wade Benson, the brothers from the bank heist a while back, is sitting at his desk signing a couple development papers which need to be sent to his contractors this coming week. Mr. Benson doesn't even glance upward from the papers. He just continues working.

"How may I help you Special Agent Gibbs?" Mr. Benson asked.

"You son-of-a-bitch!" Gibbs approaches the desk and slams his hands until it.

"Good help is always hard to find, Agent Gibbs."

The men run into the office and draw their guns. Mr. Benson waves his hand to signal the men to leave. The men leave the office. Mr. Benson stands up from behind his desk and walks to the side.

"What makes you think you can just barge into my home and disrespect me? Mr. Benson asked. "I'm a business man, Agent Gibbs. I'm very busy."

"You arranged for my son-in-law's adopted son to be kidnapped!" Gibbs shouted in anger.

"You're responsible for my son Shawn being incarcerated in a federal prison for the next twenty years!"

"It's not my fault your son is a moron!"

"Don't disrespect my family!" Mr. Benson exclaimed as he looks out the window. Suddenly, there's a loud crash of a vase shattering into a millions pieces. Mr. Benson turns away from the window to face the desk. At the bottom of the edge of the desk is a shattered vase on the floor.

"I slipped."

"That vase was an antique."

"What… You want me to buy you a new one?" Gibbs said jokingly.

"The vase cost over four hundred thousand dollars. I doubt you'd ever be able to afford it on your salary, Agent Gibbs."

There's a brief moment of silence as Mr. Benson looks out the window again.

"My money wasn't able to keep Shawn out of prison…" Mr. Benson begins to say.

"But it kept him from being incarcerated even longer." Gibbs said. "He'll probably be released in eleven years."

"I highly doubt my son Shawn will be released earlier due to good behavior, Agent Gibbs."

"You ever stop to think your criminal empire might have been the influence to your son being an asshole?"

"I'm not a criminal. Like I said before Agent Gibbs… I'm a business man."

"You keep telling yourself that."

"Shawn is in prison. Wade won't talk to me anymore…"

"You're breaking my heart." Gibbs joked.

"The men who kidnapped your son-in-law's precious child will never be found. I gave them a simple job. They fucked it up by hiring outside help. Can you believe hired goons would be stupid enough to give money to a man to borrow a van? I mean… If they needed a van all they had to do is ask. It's so hard to find competent help these days." Mr. Benson stated. "By the way, don't even bother looking for the two goons. They've been dealt with."

"In other words… I'll never find their bodies."

"Take as you will, Agent Gibbs. But know this… We're not through." Mr. Benson. "Now leave my home before one of your wounds opens up and bleeds onto my expensive rugs."

Gibbs turns around and walks away. After leaving the room, a side door to the office opens. A man steps out and approaches the desk where Mr. Benson is once again sitting down.

"Your brother is a very stubborn man, Jared." Mr. Benson said.

"He also has a death sentence." Jared Lucas Gibbs stated.

"All in due time…"

"I should kill him right now."

"You did a hell of a job at killing him when he confronted you in your childhood home. If I recall correctly… He kicked your ass."

"I gave him too many opportunities because I was preoccupied with…"

"You fucked up!"

"If you're not careful maybe you'll be my next victim, Geoffrey."

"I'm not afraid of a serial killer."

"You should be." Jared Lucas Gibbs walks away, toward the door he entered from.

"Your record is a clean slate, Jared. You were able to make that deal with the FBI because I allowed it. The Intel about the new terrorist organization came from me. Everything you know about your brother's team is from me. I gave you all the Intel you needed you play games with NCIS and to also be given a clean slate with that deal. You'll have your chance. So don't fuck things up by acting on those urges to kill people."

Jared Lucas Gibbs walks through the doorway he came out from and closes the door behind him. He's now all alone in the next room.

"And once I have what I want you'll cease to exist in this world, Geoffrey." Jared said softly to himself. "I'll play it your way… For now."

Jared Lucas Gibbs chuckles evilly as he walks away.


	19. Chapter 19

**Monday**

**Chapter 19**

Gibbs steps off the elevator onto the third floor of NCIS Headquarters. With a coffee cup in hand, he walks into the bullpen. McGee glances upward from behind his desk. Tony isn't at work as he has taken the week off from work. Ziva hasn't arrived yet. Gibbs places the coffee on his desk and turns around. McGee quickly puts his head down and pretends to work.

"If there's something you want to say or ask just..." Gibbs begins to say.

"How come you look so terrible? What on earth happened in North Korea?" McGee wondered.

"If you let me finished what I was going to say you would've heard me tell you to keep it to yourself."

"Right Boss."

Gibbs notices Ziva step off the elevator. Their eyes meet as Ziva freezes. Gibbs sees the concern, worry and fear in her eyes. He finally sits down. Ziva is now unable to see Gibbs, but she's still frozen in her place. After a couple seconds Ziva takes a deep breath and continues walking. As Ziva enters into the bullpen, McGee stands up and walks away because he has to bring something down to Abby. This leaves Ziva and Gibbs to talk privately. She approaches the front of Gibbs' desk.

"I don't know how to make this better." Ziva said. She places her gun and badge in the middle of Gibbs' desk. "I'm going back to Israel. My flight leaves three hours. Here's my flight info." She places the flight information on the desk. "I know what you probably think of me right now…"

"You know nothing of what I think of you at this moment." Gibbs said.

"Do you want to talk about…"

"No I don't, Ziva."

"Then I'll go." Ziva said. "For what it's worth… I'm glad the three of you are safe." There's a brief pause. "Goodbye, Gibbs."

Ziva turns around and walks away. Gibbs extends his hand toward the items on his desk. He picks up Ziva's badge and stares at it.

Gibbs is left to decide Ziva's fate. In Gibbs' mind, he wants to understand the entire situation, but at the same he doesn't. Not everything makes sense to him. He ponders whether or not he should arrest her or let her go.

Almost three hours pass.

Gibbs looks at the flight information. He picks up the phone and dials the security office at Dulles International Airport.

"This is Special Agent Gibbs… I need you to detain a passenger named Ziva David. Her flight information is…" Gibbs continues speaking with airport security by giving them the information they need about Ziva's flight. He also faxes a photo of Ziva for identification purposes.

After hanging up the phone, Gibbs quickly grabs his gear and runs to the elevator. Once in a car, Gibbs leaves the Navy Yard and speeds all the way to Dulles International Airport.

Ziva is sitting in an interrogation type room at Dulles International Airport. There's no two-way mirror. It's just a room with a table and two chairs. Ziva sits there with handcuffs around her wrists. Her heart beat increases with every minute that passes as she waits patiently for Gibbs who she knows is the only person who would've given the request for her to be detained. Ziva knows her fate lies in Gibbs' judgment.

Gibbs finally enters into the room. The door is closed. Ziva looks downward at the table as she feels she can't even look Gibbs in the eye. Gibbs and Ziva are all alone in the room. He sits across from her.

"Before I met Jenny I was the leader of an elite team of highly trained assassins…" Ziva begins to explain her story. "We performed jobs; assassinations for Mossad. When there was an assassination job which required a team effort… We were the ones to perform the deed and did so flawlessly, with absolute perfection. When a particular person was marked for assassination… We always got the job done without being seen or heard. We were in and out before anybody knew anything. There was no security system we couldn't bypass. We were an unstoppable force." She briefly paused and looks up at Gibbs. She looks down again and continues her story. "One day… A man hired us to do a job. The mark was made. But we were deceived. Our own training of being able to tell truth from lie was used to mislead us. The marks were eight people; two four person teams. One team was in Madrid, Spain and the second was in Paris, France. We neutralized the Madrid team first and the Paris team second. After we neutralized the Paris team…" She paused for a couple seconds as she recalls the incident. "That's when Amir noticed something on a table. He opened it. Who we were misled to be arms dealers were NCIS agents. They were NCIS… The very organization Mossad was trying to establish relations with at the time. We assassinated eight NCIS agents without even knowing until it was too late. Our elite team of highly trained assassins almost completely destroyed any possibly of NCIS and Mossad working closely with each other. My father made sure to destroy all record of me having ties to the death squad… To my friends… My family. They became fugitives from NCIS and Mossad. But I wasn't because of my father. All evidence to tie me to the death squad vanished without a trace. I was the only one to not suffer. Yet I suffered every single day with the knowledge of knowing what we did." She paused to take a deep breath. "I contacted the guys. We decided to seek revenge against the man who set us up. Our hearts were blackened with vengeance. There was only one way to satisfy the yearning in our hearts. We vowed to kill the man who killed us. We saw ourselves as being dead because we all lost a piece of ourselves because of the incident. Our lives were shattered. For his betrayal he had to die. The man was one of the most powerful and influential men in all of Israel. But it didn't stop us. We invaded his mansion. We bypassed every security feature like it never existed. It was so easy for us. Every threat at the mansion was neutralized. The last remaining target was him. He begged for his life. He said he would set things straight with NCIS and Mossad if we just let him live. But his proposal was to find scapegoats; to put the blame on another group of people. He had the resources to make it all go away by placing the blame elsewhere. We couldn't allow it. There was no way he would take the fall. So I did the only logical thing. I placed a knife to throat. I slit his throat without hesitation and without mercy. After the home invasion we parted ways. The guys separated by going anywhere they could go. As for me…" Ziva's eyes begin to get watery. She tries to hold the emotions back. "I'm the only one who went back to a normal life. Even though we got our revenge… I still felt dead inside. I met Jenny a couple weeks after we invaded the mansion. In my heart I wanted to make a mends for what I did. So I developed a working relationship with Jenny which eventually led me here. I thought working with NCIS would allow me to forgive myself…"

"It's time to go, Ziva." Gibbs said.

The two of them stand. Gibbs walks around the table. He grabs the handcuffs which are still around Ziva's wrists. Gibbs escorts the handcuffed Ziva out of the room. They walk out of the security area. As they walk through the airport, some people can't help but look in their direction since they can tell the lady, Ziva, is in handcuffs. They exit the airport and are now in the parking lot walking to the car.

"While in North Korea the guys asked me to come with them." Ziva stated.

"Why didn't you go with them?" Gibbs wondered.

"I tried my hardest to escape that life. I couldn't go with them. They'll always be my brothers. But I've come to realize you guys… You, Jenny, Tony, McGee, Ducky, Abby and Jamie are my family now. There's nothing I wouldn't do to rescue my family. Even if that means revealing my darkest secret in order to do so. I've learned to be human again because of you guys. I may have a rough exterior, Gibbs, but things change. You've become a little soft ever since Jamie came into the picture. And I'll be the first to admit… I've become a little soft too but not because of Jamie. It's because of all of you as a whole. I mean… When Tony and Jamie got married I made them a wedding album with all their wedding photos. I would never normally do that, Gibbs. I'm not a wedding album type of person." Ziva said. "I actually feel good about myself. But I guess it doesn't matter now. Once again I've lost another family."

They approach the car. While standing at the passenger side, Gibbs unlocks the handcuffs.

"I'm the only person who knows of your ties to the death squad. Your secret is safe with me." Gibbs stated. "But if anybody ever finds out about your connection to them… I won't be able to save you."

Gibbs walks away in order to go to the other side of the car. He gets into the car. Ziva is left standing at the passenger door. After a couple seconds she finally opens the door and gets in. The engine is started.

"Unfortunately, NCIS and Mossad don't care for an explanation, even the explanation of the incident occurring due to being mislead." Gibbs stated. "Someone must pay. You and your team are still responsible for the murders of those eight agents, even with it being what it is. Their blood is on your hands and you have to live with that for the rest of your life. But after what you told me… I don't feel you should be held accountable. The guilt is enough of a burden." He paused for a couple seconds. Gibbs looks to Ziva. They look each other in the eyes. "You said you lost a piece of yourself after the incident. Even if you don't believe it, I think you regained that piece and a whole lot more."

Ziva cracks a smile as what Gibbs said actually makes her feel better about the whole thing. In Ziva's mind, she knows Gibbs trusts her and wants her to remain a part of the team. She knows Gibbs also thinks of the team as family, though he may not say it or even admit it to himself most of the time. Ziva's heart is touched; she feels like she belongs, that she has a home with NCIS.

Hours later, close to dusk, Ziva knocks on a door. The door opens. On the other is Jamie.

"Ziva…" Jamie greeted her with a smile. She moves to the side. "Come in." Jamie invites her into their home. Ziva walks into the apartment. The door closes.

"I just came by to see how things are." Ziva said. The two of them walk further into the apartment. Ziva feels slightly uncomfortable like she's intruding.

"Hi Ziva!" Tony exclaimed.

"Tony's been relaxing on the couch since yesterday."

"I'm in pain!"

"Do you need more pain medicine, Babe?" Jamie wondered.

"I got a couple over here on the table." Tony said. "You should stay for dinner, Ziva."

"Nah… I don't want to intrude." Ziva said.

"You're always welcome in our home, Ziva." Jamie stated. Chioke exits from the bathroom. A smile stretches across his face as he sees Ziva. Chioke runs to her. Ziva lifts him in her arms. Chioke starts moving his hands.

'Stay for dinner.' Chioke signed with his hands. 'We make spaghetti.'

"He wants you to stay for dinner. We're having spaghetti." Jamie stated.

"Alright… I'll stay for dinner." Ziva said. Chioke gets excited and gives Ziva a hug. He leans back a bit.

'Want help us make dinner?' Chioke signed.

"He wants to know if you'd like to help us make dinner." Jamie said.

"I'd love to." Ziva said with a smile.

Ziva sets Chioke down on the floor. The three of them walk enter into the kitchen and begin to prepare dinner. Jamie handles starting the spaghetti. Ziva handles taking care of the salad. And Chioke sets the table. Tony remains on the couch in the family room. As Ziva is in the kitchen helping Jamie and Chioke to make dinner, her heart is touched; she feels a sense of belonging to a family, that she has a home with the people of NCIS.

**THE END**

This concludes the story "For the Love of a Child". Coming soon will be the next story in this series. But until then, I hope you enjoyed this story.


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